How Does Our Christ, And Christianity, Look Like?

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (Isaiah 53:1-3 NASB)

We all tend to "judge a book by it's cover". In other words we follow the external, rather than the internal. How the messenger looks will tell how acceptable the message will be. Have you ever wondered why everyone on television and movies are attractive? Even the extras.

This prophecy given to Isaiah in this passage spoke of the coming Messiah, the One we know today as Jesus Christ. It describes our Lord in a way that is very unfamiliar, or even unacceptable, for a God or man that we will follow and obey.

He had no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him.  In orher words he didn't look like a king or prince.

Nor appearance that we should be attracted to him.  He wasn't a good looking guy.

And because of all that he went through, all the persecution and eventually his death on the cross, he was someone despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and grief, and he was not esteemed.

How far this description of our Savior from the way he is depicted in statues and pictures! This is the problem with human nature - it is almost unacceptable that someone important or popular will be described in the way Isaiah did, more especially our God! And so we come up with our own description, one more acceptable to our senses, and wala - out comes the good looking and popular version of Jesus Christ.

The problem is, we don't just do this with statues and pictures of Jesus.  We also do this with Christianity. The Christ, and His teachings, that we want are those that make Him popular, acceptable..."handsome" if you will accept that description. And so people invent a Christianity that is so far from how God described it in His word. Gone is the worship of a God who is holy, who requires holiness from His disciples.  The ears of many Christians today reject teachings of dying to self, contentment, or the prioritizing of the kingdom and His will. We follow the christ or christianity that is acceptable, good looking, to our senses.

The Christ, and Christianity, that people desire today has to be good looking, acceptable. But that is not, and has never been, our Lord's intent - to be popular and acceptable.  All He wanted, and still wants, is that He is worshipped, exalted and glorified, no matter what He asks or desires from us. It has never been about looks, but about love and obedience to a Savior and Lord who loved us first by dying for our sins.

What kind of Christ, of Christianity, are you following today?

Let Me Never Be Ashamed

In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed; In Your righteousness deliver me. (Psalms 31:1 NASB)

Sin makes us feel ashamed.  If it's a secret sin, we stand ashamed before God. If the sin is exposed. We stand ashamed before other men - our loved ones, our brethren. And when we are ashamed we tend to run, to hide from the Lord and our brethren. Satan knows this, and so relentlessly prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

This is why beforehand, before we fall into sin, during the time of temptation, this should be our prayer - "let me never be ashamed, Lord.  Do not bring us to that moment of shame".

We need to take refuge in the Lord at all times. When we are tempted to sin we are lured to take refuge in something, or someone, that Satan, or the world, makes us feel safe, secure, and satisfied.  But only God can do that. This is why we are to take refuge in Him always.  Do not neglect your prayer time, read His word, meditate upon His truth everyday, seek His presence, His joy, His peace at all times.

Then we ask for His righteousness. We have been declared righteous in Jesus Christ whenwe put our faith in Him as our Savior. And it is His righteousness He gives us as we walk with Him as our Lord, and as we walk by the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Lord, let me never be ashamed...may this be our goal, our desire, every moment of every day of our life

The One Thing We Ask and Seek For

Psalm 27:4  One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple.

During a time of war David brought the presence of his God in his heart.  He knew that his God was with him, he saw his adversaries stumble and fall, and his heart was filled with confidence and trust in his God.
Where did he get all this?  By spending time with his God in the temple.
Psalm 27:5  For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. 6  And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.

In the day of trouble where did David go first?  To the temple.  This is where he hid.  This was where he was lifted up, and where he was filled with joy.  It was this protection, this confidence, and this joy that he brought with him to the battlefield.
No wonder this was the "one thing" that David asked from the Lord - that he would dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, to behold His beauty and to meditate in His temple.

We, Christians, have a greater advantage, in the human sense, compared to David.  In the Old Testament they had to go to the temple to seek the presence of God.  Today, the Holy Spirit indwells each believer.  We are considered His temple.  We worship in spirit and truth.  We do not need to go somewhere anymore to "dwell" in His house, behold His beauty and meditate in His presence.
All we need is to MAKE TIME.  Not find time, for we will not be able to find it, with all the things we think we need to do, that are more important than prayer.  We need to MAKE TIME.

One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek...
We ASK to dwell in the presence of the Lord because we know that it is by His grace that He calls us into His presence.  No amount of human effort brings us to God's presence.  He calls us, draws us, and keeps us in His presence.
But we are also to SEEK.   Make time to pray, meditate in His word, dwell in His presence as you sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.  Seek Him.

Then, whatever the world may throw at us, we will be prepared.  As we hide in Him, and are filled with His confidence and joy, we bring this everywhere we are, everywhere we go - whether we stay at home, go to our office or take care of our business, as we face trials, hardships and circumstances that come our way, we will see our adversaries fall, and our hearts will be filled with His confidence.

Is this the One Thing that we have asked, and sought for, today?  Everyday?

Matters of the Heart

Honor God with your body - a message for single young people

1 Corinthians 6:19  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
More and more young people are indulging in pre-marital sex today.  The "sexual revolution" that began during the hippie years has not stopped.  In fact, as the population increased, so did the frequency of it among young people.
Sad to say, the same thing is happening among Christian young people.  One of the most common "prayer requests" that young people bring to the Lord is to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend.  At the least it is a desire that is given to the Lord, that they may meet someone whom they can love.
And the moment God does answer their prayer they will claim that their boyfriend or girlfriend is a gift of God.  But then things get out of control.  They cannot control their fleshly desires.  What begun with holding hands now becomes fondling, which eventually leads to having sex.
Because of their love, their uncontrolled emotion, one partner gives in to the desires of the other, and they surrender their bodies to pleasure.
What happened?

I think it is important for young people to understand that the falling into sexual sin did not happen last minute.  And, also, the solution to sexual sin does not happen at the last minute.  It must happen way before - in the heart.  The foundation of the heart of a Christian must be so strong, that whatever temptation that comes our way we will be able to say "no" to it.  Especially to sexual sin.

The understanding and belief in the passage above, quoted again below, serves as one of those important foundations in the heart of a Christian young man or young woman.
19  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
The moment we are born again we are given a gift.  Not a spiritual gift, but a gift - the Holy Spirit Himself.  He indwells us, lives in us.  And because of this we become a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Many Christians make the mistake of thinking that this refers only to the experiences that a Christian has with the Spirit - of being lead by Him, of knowing His presence, His power in our life.  These are essential workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but this is not the only reason why He indwells us.

Notice when Paul teaches that we are a temple of the Holy Spirit, the first thing he writes is "YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN".  The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us is about ownership.  He owns us now.  We are not our own anymore!  Our flesh is not ours to please anymore.  Our minds are not ours to fill with physical or sexual pleasure anymore.  Everything that our bodies do are to be actions that are in submission to the One who owns us now.
We were bought at a price.  That price was Jesus Christ's death on the cross.  He paid the price so that we would not be slaves anymore to sin, but now slaves to righteousness.  Some Christians think that being "set free" means that we do what we want, what our bodies ask for.  No.  We are set free from the hold of sin so that now we can be free to obey Christ!
So, since we are now a temple of the Holy Spirit we are not our own, we have been bought at a price.  Therefore, we are to HONOR GOD WITH OUR BODY.

This is the foundation that every young person should bring in their hearts when they are blessed by God with a boyfriend or girlfriend, who should be looked at as a future husband or wife.  For some reason many Christians think that the moment they have a boyfriend or girlfriend they are free to use their bodies to express their "love" or their emotion.  This is a deception that the world has taught us.  We see it in television shows and movies - that to show we love someone we have to hug, kiss, cuddle, hold each other in every part of the body!  That's what the world does.  And a Christian should not be following this automatically.

Our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit.  We should honor God with our bodies.  What we should be asking, praying about, is whether or not we should be holding, touching, kissing or whatever it is that our flesh is asking us to do.  If we are a temple of the Holy Spirit we will only do what we believe honors the God who live in us!
The bodies of our boyfriend or girlfriend are also a temple of the Holy Spirit.  So take care how you treat it.  Are you supposed to be touching, holding, fondling and caressing a body that belongs to the Holy Spirit, that has been bought with the blood of the Lamb, that should be honored by you?

The reason why many young Christians have fallen into sexual sin is they have not prepared their hearts with this foundation in their hearts.  We are a temple of the Holy Spirit, He lives in us, He owns us, bought us and should be honored at all times!
It is so surprising how Christian partners will go from holding hands to holding other delicate and private parts of the bodies, how we hug and caress as if the body we are touching is ours to freely do that to.  No!  Our body, the body of our partner, is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  Honor it young people!
Some of you know this truth already, but it is overcome by our emotion!  We "express" our love through our touch.  Again, this is a deception of the world.  We do not have to express our emotion through touching and hugging, which eventually may lead to our being tempted to have sex.  We express our love through the working of God in our hearts.

The only time that a body becomes ours to freely caress and love is when we are married.  That's the ONLY time.  This is why a Christian waits for marriage, to enjoy the freedom to enjoy the body of our spouse (1 Corinthians 7:2-5).  And even as our spouse we are to treat their bodies as a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Before that, single young people, be sure to use your body only for God's honor.  Be sure to treat the body of your boyfriend/girlfriend as a temple of the Holy Spirit, honoring Him, honoring his/her body as someone who has been bought.

Flowers or Fruit?

John 15:16  "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

When flowers of a fruit tree come out it's a sign that the tree is about to bear fruit.  The flowers look nice, they bring color and decoration to a tree, and at times even smell good.  But that is not why the tree exists.  It's just a sign that it's about to bear fruit.  Eventually the flowers disappear, but when the fruit come out that's when the tree is at it's best!  This is what everyone is waiting for...not the flowers, but the fruit.  So as much as we may enjoy the sight of the flowers, it is the fruit that we must really be waiting for.

Jesus made it clear to His disciples - you did not choose Me but I chose you.  How many Christians today really understand this truth?  We did not choose to be Christians, He was the One who chose us to be His disciples.  And He chose us for a purpose - to bear fruit, the kind of fruit that lasts, not the fruit that this world has to offer.
Have you noticed what the world's fruits are, what it likes to display?  Financial and material prosperity, nice clothes, nice shoes, the latest gadgets, titles and positions in life, big houses, fancy cars, jewelry, etc.  The more you have, the more "fruitful" you are.
What is regarded as fruit for so many should be seen as "flowers" for Christians.  Sadly, many Christians today are after the flowers rather than the fruit.

How we come in prayer everyday asking the Lord to "bless" us, to give us a better life, allow us to have things, to buy things, to build things...and forget that the Lord chose us to bear fruit, the fruit that will last.  He did not choose us to have flowers.

How many of us are more concerned about bearing fruit, who prioritize our spiritual fruit rather than material prosperity and gain in this life?  I believe that many have fallen prey to the deception of the world that the fruit we must bear is material and financial.
How many Christians do you know who have compromised their faith and righteousness for profit in their business, for financial gain, for promotion in their office.  How many Christians give up their fellowship with the Lord through prayer, meditating on God's word, attending Sunday services, fellowship with other Christians, serving the Lord in ministry - all for the sake of gaining fame and fortune, having a boyfriend or girlfriend, a husband or wife, a family.  They claim a "personal relationship" with God, and yet openly neglect the very things that God desires from His disciples - the fruit.

Galatians 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;
Phillipians 1:11  having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

How many of us would prioritize bearing these fruit in our lives, rather than enjoy the pleasures and "fruit" of this world?
Without realizing it we contradict the words of our Lord Himself who warned us:
Mat 16:26  "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Are we using God to gain the whole world, and in the process losing our soul?
Let's stop living for the flowers.  We were chosen to bear fruit.  When we face Him in eternity our God is not going to check how much we earned, how big our house is, how many cars we have, how we prepared our children's future education...He's going to check our fruit, the fruit that lasts till eternity.

For the Sake of Your Name

Psalm 31:3  Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
We always ask the Lord to lead and guide us.  But how many of us ask Him to lead and guide us "for the sake of your name"?
Most of our asking the Lord to lead and guide us is for the sake of our good, for what we believe is right for us, to satisfy the desires of our heart.  How many of us pray for the sake of His name, for the glory of His name in our life?
We forget that, as Christians, we are called to live for Him, for His glory, and for His purposes.  God is not here to satisfy our desires.  We are here to satisfy His desires for us.  That's why we call Him "Lord", remember?

Even the famous "Romans 8:28" reminds us about why God works all things together for good in our life:
Romans 8:28  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
God works for the good, first to those who love Him.  Notice it's not for everyone.
Secondly, He works for the good to those WHO HAVE BEEN CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE.
Are we living for His purposes?  Are we asking God what His purposes are for us?  Is it truly our desire to glorify His name?
This is when God's leading and guidance becomes clear to us.

How many of us will heed the call to be pastors, evangelists, missionaries, if we would just pray for God's leading and guidance for the sake of His name.  How many of us would use our time to share the gospel, teach bible studies, disciple others, instead of spending much of our time making money, looking for life-time partners and preparing for our "future"?  How many of us would stop planning for our retirement by spending our money on travel, vacations, building our dream houses or farms or businesses, and spend our money on ministry, building His church, using the remaining time of our life to serve Him, doing whatever He desires us to do for His church, His kingdom?  If we just pray for the Lord to lead and guide us for the sake of His name, you will be surprised at what He would have us do for Him.

Turn Your Gaze Away From Me

Psalm 39:13  "Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may smile again Before I depart and am no more."
Why would David ask the Lord to turn His gaze away from him, to look away?  Isn't it a blessing that God is always looking at us, gazing at us always?
Not in this situation.  In verse 8 we see that David had a sin that God was dealing with him.  And when he was silent about it, not confessing it, this made matters worse for him - spiritually.
Psalm 39:9  I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this. 10  Remove your scourge from me; I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

This is what many Christians call "conviction".  Our heart being convicted of sin does not come from our conscience, but from God Himself making us realize His disdain, His anger, towards our sin.  It makes us realize that we have sinned against Him, and not just about doing something wrong.  This is why there are some Christians who continue in sin because for them they are not doing anything wrong.  But no one can escape the gaze of a holy and righteous God convicting us of a sin, and making us realize that we have gone against His will, His righteousness.

The gaze of God is always a blessing.  He makes us know that He is always with us, whether it is in times of righteousness, or in times when we sin.  And when we sin He will always make us realize that we have sinned against Him, and His desire is always that we turn away from that sin and walk in His grace and righteousness again, and therefore make us smile again.

IN HIS TIME

John 7:1-6 (NIV)

 (7:1) After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. (2) But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, (3) Jesus’ brothers said to him, “You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. (4) No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” (5) For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

 (6) Therefore Jesus told them, “The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right. 

During my prayer time this morning I found myself singing the song "In His Time".  Some of you may remember this "old hits" worship song.  Very simple lyrics - "In His time, in His time, He makes all things beautiful in His time.  Lord please show me everyday, as you're teaching me your way, that You do just what you say in Your time".  In Your time, in Your time, You make all things beautiful in Your time.  Lord my life to you I bring, may this song I have to sing, be to you a lovely thing, in Your time".

Easy to sing, but in reality hard to accept and follow.  I mean, how many of us have really, fully, submitted to the fact that all things happen in the sovereign timing of our Lord?  How many times have we caught ourselves demanding that God answer a certain prayer at a specific timing, reminding God of its importance as if He forgets, or doesn't know.  I know some of us have matured in our Christian walk and have fully surrendered to God's timing in our lives, but there must have been at least one point in our life when we were impatient with God and wanted Him to answer in our time.

The brothers of our Lord were urging Him to go to the feast of Booths and show Himself for the wrong reasons.  First, it was so that His disciples would see the miracles that He was doing.  They thought of Him as a spectacle, a circus act, that was meant to entertain even His disciples.  Then they thought of Him as a public figure, someone meant to be popular, to show Himself to the world.

But Jesus simply answered "The right time for Me has not yet come; for you anytime is right".

What a stern answer, and a stern reminder for us who seek the answer of the Lord to our prayers in our own timing, what we think is right.  We do not, should not, come to God thinking that we know what is best - whether it's what we are asking for, or with regards to the timing.  We come to God believing that He is the Soveriegn God, and that our lives are in His hands.  The words of Solomon in the book of Proverbs serve to remind us:

Proverbs 3:5  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding...

And verse 7 rightfully says "do not be wise in your own eyes...".

When we pray are we truly entrusting the need, or the request, to Him?  Or are we actually demanding God to give us what we want, when we want it?

What we don't realize is that we analyze the right timing of His answer according to what will benefit us.  The Lord judges the right timing of His answer to our prayers according to what will glorify Him in our hearts and in others' eyes.  This is why we have such a hard time understanding His timing.  For us anytime is right...but for the Lord His time is always right.

As we bring our requests to the Lord, we need to fully trust that all things will be beautiful IN HIS TIME.  God is too wise, too holy, too righteous, too loving, to just answer our prayers in the nick of time.  Everything that happens is all according to His perfect and righteous timing.  We should trust in Him with all our hearts.

The Ingredients of a Powerful Testimony

John 4:28-29  So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and *said to the men,
29  "Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?"

John 4:39  From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all the things that I have done."

What are the ingredients of a powerful testimony?  Many of the testimonies we hear today in our services, gatherings and television programs are of people who are "blessed" with riches and success, who have experienced miracles and powerful answer to prayers.  Of course, these are things to testify about and give glory to God for.  But are these the only ingredients for a powerful testimony?  Many want testimonies that are "crowd drawers", those that will catch the attention of people.  This is why many Christians feel today that they do not have a testimony to share, because they have not experienced anything exciting or extravagant.  So they end up being quiet about their "simple" experiences with the Lord.
But what should a powerful testimony have so that it is used by God to bring people to Him and glory in His name? 

The story of the Samaritan woman should help us answer this question.  What made these men in Samaria believe in Christ through this woman's testimony?  She was someone who had five husbands, and the one she was living with was not her husband.  Jesus Himself knew this.  She was probably looked down at in the city, a nobody.  And yet, because of a simple testimony that she had just had an encounter with a man who had "told her things she had done" and asked "could this be the Christ?", people believed her and eventually believed in Jesus.
What were the "ingredients" of her testimony? 
Basically, it was in her encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

First, we see the Lord GRACIOUSLY REACHING OUT  to her.
John 4:7  There *came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus *said to her, "Give Me a drink."
Culturally there was a divide that existed that should have stopped Jesus from speaking to the woman.  First, she was a woman, and it was not proper for Jews to just associate with women in public.  Second, she was a Samaritan.  Jews, then, did not think it right to associate with Samaritans, since in their history they had diverted from the law that God had given them.
And yet Jesus reached out to her.  What a blessing to know that even if we did not seek Him, and lived a life of disobedience, yet God, in His grace, reached out to us.
Anyone with this experience of grace, of God reaching out to them, despite who they were and what they had done, will surely have a testimony that is real and alive.

Then, the Lord offered her LIVING WATER.
John 4:13  Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14  but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
This obviously touched a nerve in the heart of the woman.  Who doesn't want, need, living water, the kind that will never make us thirst again!  Everything else in this world only offers temporary satisfaction.  Only God can give us a satisfaction, a joy, a peace, that lasts up to eternity.  Do we live with this "living water" filling our hearts everyday?
Anyone who has this living water in their heart will have a testimony people will thirst for.

After that, the Lord REVEALED HER SIN.
John 4:16  He *said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here." 17  The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus *said to her, "You have correctly said, 'I have no husband'; 18  for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."
No one can claim a true encounter with our Lord without Him lovingly revealing our sinfulness.  He knows our sin.  It is He we are sinning against everytime we disobey the commands of the Lord.  He opens our heart to know that He knows our sin, and cause us to have godly sorrow that leads to repentance.
Sadly, there are many Christians who purposely keep sin away from their "sharing", hoping to win someone to the Lord, not realizing that this is the main reason why someone is separated from God!
Anyone who has realized his sin before God, asked forgiveness and has repented, turned away from a life separate from the righteousness of God, has a testimony that will speak to people's heart.

Then, the Lord opened her up to TRUE WORSHIP.
John 4:21  Jesus *said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22  "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23  "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.  24  "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
She may have had religion, even her own "special mountain", but she did not know God.  As God opened her heart, He opened her to the right form of worship that God was after - worship in spirit and truth.  It wasn't about their mountain, or the mountain of the Jews (Jerusalem), that mattered.  What mattered for God was a worship that was in spirit and truth, a worship not based on rituals or forms but in the very heart of a person, a worship that stemmed from a revelation of His will, His truth, and not human tradition or beliefs.

Anyone who worships in spirit and truth has a testimony that will minister to men.

Finally, the Lord points her to HIMSELF.
John 4:25  The woman *said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." 26  Jesus *said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
Jesus did not tell her to become a Jew, or to change religion.  He pointed her to Himself.  She knew of the coming Messiah, who would declare all things to them.  Jesus simply said "I who speak to you am He".
It did not matter if she was a Jew or a Samaritan, a man or woman, what mattered was that she recognized who she was having an encounter with - Jesus Christ, the source of living water, the righteous and holy One we worship and adore as our Lord and God.
Like the apostle Thomas we bow down and proclaim "My Lord and My God" (John 20:28)
It is Christ we proclaim - not our local church, denomination or doctrinal leanings.
Col 1:28  We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.
A true testimony proclaims Him...not His blessings, provisions or miracles.  We proclaim Him, who He is, what He has done.

These are the ingredients of a testimony.  If you have these you have a testimony that God will use to bring people to His salvation and life and that will bring glory and honor to Him!  We don't have to be rich and famous to stand up and testify of our Savior and Lord!  All we need is to be available.
Acts 1:8  but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

Remembering What Lies Behind

A verse often quoted concerning our forgetting what we have gone through in the past and working forward toward what lies ahead is Philippians 3:13  Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.  When it comes to the working of God in our salvation, it is important for us to forget what lies behind - our past lives, our disobedience, our reliance in ourselves, and strive forward to what God has prepared for us with regards to our salvation and sanctification.

But there is one thing, rather, many things, that lie behind that we must not forget...the faithfulness of our God.
Psalm 77:7-9  Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favorable again?  (8)  Has His lovingkindness ceased forever? Has His promise come to an end forever?  (9)  Has God forgotten to be gracious, Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion?

Have you ever felt like Asaph, the writer of Psalm 77?  Are you in a situation where you feel like the Lord has rejected you, that He may never be favorable towards us again, that His lovingkindness has ceased, and that His promises will never be fulfilled in our life?
Well, don't feel alone.  At least you have Asaph to share your feeling with.  But rest assured that there are many of us who have felt that way before.  The good news is that Asaph, and the rest of us, did not remain in that feeling of separation from God.  Look how he continues his psalm:
Psalm 77:11-15  I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.  (12)  I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds.  (13)  Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God?  (14)  You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples.  (15)  You have by Your power redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph.

Asaph remembered the deeds of the Lord.  He remembered what lay behind...the faithfulness of his God!  How important it is for us to continually set monuments of God's grace and faithfulness in our lives through the years, so that in times when we feel He is far we will be assured that His faithfulness has always been there for us, and for sure He will see us through.

Remember what lies behind with regards to how God has seen you through all these years that you have walked with Him.  Remember His grace, His faithfulness, His love.

How Long, Lord?

Psalm 6:1-3  A psalm of David. LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.  (2)  Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint; heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony.  (3)  My soul is in deep anguish. How long, LORD, how long?

It’s nice to know that there was someone in the Bible who was just like us.  You know – someone who questioned God’s timing.  David was so afraid to speak out what was in his heart that he asked the Lord not to be angry or discipline him.  He was faint, in agony and in deep anguish.  He ends this portion of the psalm by saying “how long, Lord, how long?”.

I’m sure there are many times when we wondered where God was, why He was taking so long before answering our prayer.  And we’re afraid to share it with others lest they question our faith and trust in the Lord.  So we put up a spiritual look, claiming to trust God.  But deep inside we are wondering “How long, Lord, how long?”.
When I feel this way I’ve learned not to keep it from God.  Whether or not I say it He sees my heart and knows what I feel.  That’s why I believe it’s always best to just say it, let it out of our chest.  This was what David was doing.

David, though, did not end his prayer with his impatience and doubt.  He ended it with faith:
Psalm 6:8-10  Away from me, all you who do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping.  (9)  The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer.  (10)  All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.
The Lord has heard.  The Lord accepts my prayer.  Even though it may seem that God is delayed in answering our prayers, in our hearts we must believe that He has heard, that He has accepted our prayers.  And eventually our hearts submit to the wisdom and timing of our Sovereign God, and trust in His faithfulness.