Every Day Faith - October 2020: Testimonies of Thankfulness
A practice, once common in many of our churches, was the testimony service. It entailed taking some time during the regular service to allow people to stand and offer brief reports of thanksgiving. People standing to offer living examples of God’s work in their lives is a pure, enriching addition to songs of worship and strong messages delivered from God’s Word.
In many cases, social media has become a vibrant forum of interaction. A place where people make a public declaration of the goodness of God. Where they share their stories and simple testimonies of thanksgiving. Indeed, “the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple” (KJV). There is no stronger witness than the proof of your own life.
Testimonies of thanksgiving don’t need to be complex dissertations intended to provoke theological debate. People are more interested in living proof. You living a life under the guidance and goodness of God is such a strong weapon against the rumours of God’s non-existence. Every flash of positive affirmation is a witness. Accompanied by thanksgiving—potent!
What is your testimony? One of the things that the Word reminds us in a three-part statement on overcoming is this: we overcome this world by the blood sacrifice of Christ, the word of our testimony, and by our willingness to forego selfish ambition. If you’ve accepted salvation through the blood sacrifice of Christ, what are your next steps? What is your ambition and the word of your testimony? And in all of the circumstances you now face, what has God been doing on your behalf? Let’s be thankful!
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Father, it is so important for each of us to share with others what You have done in our lives. In fact by the retelling of our personal testimony, many can be encouraged and many can enter into discipleship and lives of righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.
We ask You, Father, to remind us that we are directed by You. We understand Your leading when we learn to trust You and to acknowledge Your rightful place in every area of our lives. You are the master. We are the servants.
Forgive us when we fail to live as obediently as You desire. When we do fail, let broken lives see how You deal with us in compassion. Let us be willing to share the same empathy with others. By Your grace, use us to lead many others to become aware of Your love and Your willingness to lead them into lives of trust and purity.
Paul said that we are living stones in spiritual house forming a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5). Help us to live in a way that testifies to the solid foundation we have in You. May people see in us an attractiveness that is appealing and calls them out of lives of sin and confusion and into the light.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Image: Adobe Stock
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Psalm 71:15-16 (NIV) – “My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all day long—though I know not how to relate them all. I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.”
Mark 5:18-19 (NIV) – “As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, ‘Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’”
Psalm 22:22 (NLT) – “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people."
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The PAOC’s humanitarian agency, ERDO (Emergency Relief and Development Overseas), has received numerous requests for emergency food in areas that are becoming increasingly vulnerable with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the loss of lives the virus has caused, lockdowns have doubled acute hunger projections for 2020, affecting a quarter of a billion people.
In addition to these new requests, our national partners and global workers are already running food assistance programs and distributing food while maintaining new social distance protocols. Our goal once again this month is to expand our programs to provide children and their families with life-saving emergency food as this situation continues. Watch for an email from ERDO and visit ERDO on Facebook and Instagram to track and partner with this focus. Thank you for your ongoing faithfulness in helping us to bring relief in urgent food security crises every October.
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