Thinking About Testimonies

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

Several years back God took my testimony and exchanged it for His testimony over me!! Amazing and radically life changing!! He revealed the strongholds I had unwittingly allowed to remain etched in my mind. Instead of letting go of my testimony before Christ (then), with the truth of who I am in Christ (now), I brought all the “garbage” with me and kept speaking it over myself! Until I experienced true liberty and freedom in my life, I never realized how imprisoned my mind had been!!

I had been a Christian for about 36 years by that time, but until then I had been taught a testimony was what I was before Christ, and my salvation experience. It boiled down to how Christ had saved me from myself – my sin and never dealt with the other things in my life that needed redeemed with truth. So, my sin, and how Christ took care of it, became the focal point. That is like having part of a story, leaving off right where the great part comes in – the rest of the story – God’s testimony over me!!

God’s testimony for all of mankind began at creation, Adam and Eve, the garden of Eden, with the promise of a Savior. From the beginning of sin God set out to give us a way back to Him and what He desired for us! Christ and my salvation were the end of my testimony, and the beginning of my personal relationship with a triune God, and God’s testimony over me!

God’s testimony brings glory and honor to His name. Christ, the Son, and my Savior calls me friend, His bride, and beloved. It shows that He is an amazing Father desiring more, way more, for his children, sometimes more than we can comprehend or take in. When we are “born again” all things are made new and the old has passed away. Our status changes dramatically. We are different – we call God, Abba Father. We are his child, a royal priest, saint, beloved!!

Rather than focusing on my past, focusing on what God has done in the past, what he says about my past, and who He says I am now, brings healing and speaks truth over me, thus causing my focus to be on him and not turned aside for the devil to get a foothold!

Love, Jeanne

10-4-21