Your Testimony

What do you think of when your hear the word “Testimony?” I think of a few different things, from my college days studying Criminal Justice – what a witnessed actually says in court is called testimony. Then a testimony in the Bible. Which is an account we share about how we’ve come to have a personal relationship with God.

Every time you tells of the account about how you came to have a relationship with God, we give glory and honor to God, and He is pleased. This account of this is our testimony about how God has changed our ,ice through a personal relationship with Him.

Out testimony – regardless of how ordinary or spectacular we think it is – is an account about God’s character. It is your eyewitness account of how God rescued us from sin and death through Christ, and changed our life as a result.

When you share your story with others, you help them get to know what God is like and what He can do.

Preparing Your Personal Testimony

Whether you are in line at the grocery store, sitting with a family member or standing in front of a group of people, the Bible calls us to “always be ready” to explain our hope in Christ with gentleness and respect (1Peter 3:15-16).

Your story is one of the most valuable tools you have for sharing the gospel with a person who does not follow Jesus. Not that, but it’s not a tool you have to remember to carry in your backpack or purse; it’s so you have at all times no matter the circumstance. Being prepared for an open door to share with someone is crucial if you are going to be faithful to share the story God has given you.

You may think that because it’s your account of what happened to you, you do not have to do anything to be ready to tell it. After all you were there when it happened, and your living it now.

But it’s easy to get nervous, become sidetracked or forget things when sharing your testimony, which can be confusing or distracting for those listening. This is why a little preparation and practice can be valuable.

I once shared my testimony to a group of recovering addicts, I was not ready, (sometimes God just throws us out of the boat), I cried through The whole thing. But it was important for them to know, that whatever others go through God can help them through it. I remember 3 people said the “sinners prayer” and were saved that night. In this case my testimony held a few people find their way to God.

It’s important to be prepared to share your story clearly and concisely at any time, a person coming to know Jesus is not dependent on your communication skills. God is ultimately the one who will give your audience understanding and soften a person’s heart to receive the gospel. But your role is to take a step of faith in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the rest to God.

It’s important to realize that sometimes sharing your testimony, makes us stronger, and it’s because it God moves when we take steps of faith to share with others,

There are many accounts in the Bible of people sharing about how God transformed their lives. One of the most well-known testimonies is told by the Apostle Paul. Paul went from persecuting Christian’s to following Jesus, starting churches, and writing over half of the New Testament. If you takeaway look at Paul’s testimony before a crowd in Acts 22: 1-21 you will understand the essential parts of telling your testimony.

Here are a few tips to understand good framework for telling your personal testimony.

The Opening

Identify a theme you can use to frame your story. What did your life revolve around. What is relationships, your reputation, success? What did God use to help bring you to Him? Illustrate how that influenced your life.

Your Life Before Christ

Pain a picture of what your life was like before you came to Christ. Do not dwell too much on, or brag about, past sins. Share only the details that relate to your theme – just enough to show your need for Christ. Think through these questions:

  • What about my life before Christ will relate most to non -believers I know?
  • What did my life revolve around? Where did I get my security, identity or happiness from?
  • Hoe did those things begin to let me down?

How You Came To Christ

Give the details about why and how you became a believer. Communicate in such a way that the person you are talking with, and anyone who overhears you, can understand how they can become a believer too. Even if your listeners are not ready for that, God could use your story and explanation as a seed to draw them to Himself in the future. Think through these questions:

  • When was the first time I heard the gospel? What were my initial reactions?
  • When and why did my perspective on Christ begin to change?
  • What were the final struggles that I went through before I accepted Him? Why did I finally decide to accept Christ ( or give Him complete control of my life?).

Your Life After Coming To Christ

Share some of the changes that Christ has made in your life as they relate to your theme. Empathize the changes in your character, attitude or perspective, not just changes in your behavior. Be realistic. We still struggle as believers. Life is far from perfect, but what’s different about your life now? Think through these questions:

  • How is my life different now? List some specific changes in your character, attitude, and perspective on life.
  • What motivates you now? What do I live for?
  • Even though your life still isn’t perfect, how does knowing Christ help you deal with that fact?

The Closing

End with a statement that summarizes your story and connects everything back to your theme. If you want, close with a bib verse that related to your experience.

My advice is to pray before you write out or share your testimony. Ask God for wisdom and the words to say.

Write the way you speak, be honest, and aim to keep your testimony with a 3-5 minute limit (people seems to get distracted if it’s any longer). Practice your testimony out loud several times until you feel comfortable saying it In from of people.

The Lord can use you to help others come to know Christ. Ask God for opportunities to share your testimony and the gospel with others.

What’s So Great About 3:00 A.M.?

For many years I had night terrors, I would wake up screaming and crying. I was convinced that it all had to do with something about me childhood traumas. I would jolt myself out of sleep around 3:00 in the morning.

Many people refer that hour of the night as the “Devil’s hour” or the “Witching Hour” and I certainly felt like there was an evil presence hovering over me.

Maybe you’ve had a similar experience of waking up unexpectedly at 3 in the morning and wondered why? What is the real reason people wake up at 3:00 A.M.?

Some people believe our sleep can be interrupted by emotional disturbances like loneliness, sadness, or depression. Chinese practitioners believe that our sleep patterns can be affected by our mental and physical state. Those who practice Hinduism believe the spirit world is trying to communicate with us during this time. But not everyone believes that these early morning encounters are evil.

Many spiritualists claim that the portal between the physical and spiritual world opens more fully at 3:00 A.M. as the spirit guides try to communicate with us. For those who believe 3 in the morning is the devils hour, they claim that Jesus was crucified at the polar opposite time on the clock at 3 in the afternoon, the event of the cross.

For me personally, I assumed that my night terrors were the result of some physiological problem, caused from my childhood. So when I asked my doctor about I was shocked when he said my 3 A.M. encounters could be a wake up call from some spiritual entity. At that time I don’t recall asking a pastor or minister about this. But, I didn’t grab my Father’s Bible and began to study the Scriptures to see if I could find out why I was waking up at 3 in the morning.

What does the Bible say about waking up at 3:00 A.M.? Could there be a spiritual meaning to being awakened from a deep sleep at 3 in the morning? Is this really the “Devil’s Hour?” What is the Bible’s exclamation of waking up at 3?

The biblical meaning of waking up at 3:00 A.M:

While the Bible frequently mentions that God send people messages in their dreams, (Jacob’s ladder to heaven, Joseph’s dream about the pregnancy of Mary, and Peter’s vision of a floating sheet are just a few examples), but the Scriptures do not have a great deal to say about the specific times of these encounters.

The Bible actually discourages us from placing an emphasis on the observance of time as an indicator of a spiritual message. Deuteronomy 18:19 says, “There should not be found among you any one that makes his son or daughter to pass through the fire, or use divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.”

Yet,as I mentioned before, there are people who believe that a portal between the demonic world and earth opens more fully between midnight and three in the morning. They describe it as a veil being opened allowing the spiritual and physical worlds to intersect. This is intriguing because the Bible describes the death of Jesus in similar terms. In Luke 23:44-46, Luke writes “Now it was about the sixth hour (noon), and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour (3 in the afternoon). Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit my Spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed His last.”

Theologians claim that the veil of the temple had previously separated man from God, but when it was torn in two that barrier was broken allowing us to have access to God’s spiritual Presence (Hebrews 10:19-22). Other biblical passages indicate that 3 in the afternoon was a special time of prayer for people seeking to connect with God (Acts 3:1; 10:3, and 10:30). Therefore, many people claim that a similar veil has opened for Satan and his evil forces at 3 in the morning. However, this is purely speculation as the Bible never mentions any type of veil or port being opened at a specific time.

There is a popular song that says, “It’s Five O’ Clock Somewhere “ and si you should also remember that it’s always three o’ clock somewhere too. So, this idea of an “hour of evil would have to be geographical as the world rotates through the hours of the day and night. It does not really make sense that a horde of demons must all stay confined to one hour of time as the world rotates underneath them.

In reality, we must realize that there are spiritual forces, good and bad, around us all the time. Our minds and bodies are simply more attuned to our spiritual nature during the middle of the night because we are not distracted by all the noise and clutter of the physical world that we encounter during the hours of the day. Lamentations 2:19 says, “Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.”

As time went on I began to think more about my encounters with this supposed “Devil’s Hour” I realized that I have access to God every hour of every day, and therefore, I do not have to fear being awakened in the middle of the night. In the darkness of my room, instead of cowering in fear under the covers, I began to recall some scripture of reassurance:

  • 2 Samuel 22:29 – You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord who turns my darkness into light.
  • Psalm 18:28 – You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

According to Psalm 139:11-12 God is unfazed by the darkness of the night, He sees all and cab fully illuminate your path so that you do not have to be paralyzed by fear. The Bible assures us that the Spirit of God is greater and more powerful than the spirit of evil, and therefore, we do not have to be afraid if we are awakened at midnight or 3:00 in the morning, or any other time of the night. God is always with us.

Isaiah 8:19-20 declares that “when someone teaks you to consult mediums and spiritual advisers, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behave of the living? Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning.

“For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten (Ecclesiastes 9:5).

God can illuminate the darkness, and the devil anod his demons must flee.

Appreciate Your Blessings

Who is wise, and who is foolish? Who is rich and who is poor? Who is healthy, who is sick? Who is happy, and who is sad? It’s not an easy question to answer. Everything is, of course, relative. More importantly, it all depends on our perspective.

Deuteronomy 11: 26 says, “See I give you this day a blessing and a curse.” How we see will determine what we see. Whether your life is a blessing or a curse can depend more on your own perspective than on the hard realities on the ground.

I think of the people of Ukraine today. Those who are still living there and those who managed to get out with one or two suitcases in which to pack up all their life’s possessions. Can we even begin to imagine the hardships they are enduring? What about our own grandparents or great grandparents who left to escape the holocaust on ships to the new world? Many of them came with not more than the shirts on their backs, and they had to start from scratch just to survive. In comparison our lives are a breeze. Even those who are suffering financial pressures are living in luxury compared to them.

There’s a Hebrew proverb that says. “the troubles of the many are half a comfort.” The idea is that although times may be tough, the fact that many others are going through similar difficulties somehow eases our pain.

When I think back to the story’s of my Hungarian grandmother telling me how difficult her life was and her time coming to America to escape the holocaust. I have to shed a tear. But them I remember she always happy, no matter what she went through, even the dirt floor houses and the fire pit in the middle, her husband and 5 children sleeping in one room to stay warm. She survived many things in her lifetime, but she always appreciated the small things.

If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you are richer that 75% of the world.

If you have money in the bank, your wallet, and some spare change, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the millions of people who will not survive this week

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the agony of imprisonment or torture, or the horrible pangs of starvation, you are luckier that 759 million people alive or suffering.

Many men and women have fought for what you have right now. Your freedom, to speak, and act in a certain way. Whether you hate them and this great American flag and Anthem. Someone fought so you could hate it.

If you read this message, you are more than 3 billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

We will all be far happier and realize how much we have to be grateful for, if we know how to see the blessing, rather than the curse. By developing perspective in life, we learn how to count our blessings. Only then do we realize how truly blessed we really are, and how truly happy we can be.

“See, I give you this day a blessing…“

The Cycle Of Teshuvah

Teshuvah, or Repentance

In Jewish tradition, repentance is called Teshuvah, a Hebrew word translated as “retuning.” One of the Hebrew words for sin is chet, which in Hebrew means “to go astray.” The idea of repentance in Jewish thought is a return to the path of righteousness.

Teshuvah can be done at any time, but the High Holiday season, and Yom Kippur especially, is considered an especially auspicious time for it. The process of repentance, is laid out in three stages:

  • Confession
  • Regret
  • And A Vow not to repeat the misdeed

The true penitent, is the one who finds himself with the opportunity to commit the same sin again yet declines to do so. Prayer, charity and fasting are also said to help one win forgiveness.

There are two categories of sin in Jewish thought:

1. Sins against God: infractions, such as breaking the Sabbath or eating non-kosher food.

2. Sins against other people: Acts such as theft or slander.

According to Jewish tradition, only sins against God can be atoned for through confession, regret and promising not to repeat the action. Sins against other can be atoned for once the wrong has been made right – restitution has been paid for a financial crime, for example, and forgiveness received from the victim.

In the Hebrew colander, the month of Elul begins this Sunday, August 28th and concludes on October 5th, the Day of Atonement (Yon Kippur). The 10 Days of Awe begin at sunset September 25th.

Scripture teaches that our prayers and aims come up as a memorial before God. As a remembrance for future blessings. Some of the greatest breakthroughs have occurred personally and as a nation during this season, Especially during the Days of Awe between The Feast of Trumpets and Atonement. This is the time in which the doors of heaven are opened for the decisions to be decreed for the following year – 5783.

Three Ways God Makes All Things New

New is always great. New sounds like potential an opportunity…Unless I think about it you much. Then it sounds like canes in the unknown.

Things become new every year. Every year I promise myself instead of fearing the unknown I will choose you hope in the known. So what is known about you? What do I do with it true that I can securely placed my hope in? I know this – that God is the author of new. And since He authors every good and perfect thing I can trust that every new situation will bring good and perfect thing. I can trust that every new situation will have some good in it. James 1:17 promises “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

New is one of God’s promises to us, and we know that all his promises are fulfilled in Jesus Christ (2 Coronavirus 1:20). As believers our hope ultimately rest in the promises that Christ will come back or us and one day make all things new (Revelation 21:5). But what about the here and now? What can I hang my hope – hat on today, tomorrow and every other day? Luckily, scripture is full of accounts that show us how God makes things new for his glory and for the good of his people. Lets look at a few of them and I hope that they bring:

He Restores

I love God more for his ability to restore. He restores us to a little right relationship with him through the gift of forgiveness and justification. He is able to restore earthly relationships. And He can even restore days and years that have been lost two of the effects of sin (Joel 2:25). That Has to be the greatest evidence of the extravagant nature of God’s mercy. Not only can He renew ally and redeem its future, but He can also redeem its past.

Our hope rests in the promise that Christ will come back for us one day and make all things new.

In scripture, we say God’s power of restoration countless times. When Jacob was finally reunited with his lost son Joseph, he described the grief-filled days of his life as “few and evil” (Genesis 47:9). But in his last days, through God’s mercy, Jacob was able to look back on his life and see that God had been a shepherd all along and that he had been redeemed from the evil that one’s marked is life (Genesis 48:115-16). In the account of Ruth, we see God take a family whose name face extinction and not only restore to them a secure future but knit them into his grand story of a redemption by placing them in Jesus’s family line.

In the New Testament, we see Jesus live a ministry of restoration. He restore sight to the blind, the ability to walk to the crippled, hearing to the deaf, and new clean skin to the deceased (Mark: 8:22-26; Matthew 9:2-8: Mark 7:31-37; Luke 5:12-25). In all of these accounts, Jesus didn’t just feel a condition. He restore life, security, and hope to broken people.

What has God been stored for you? Time? Relationships? What are you hoping for and Christ in your situations. God has restored my family, healed me of cancer, taking away my sin. And I have the satisfaction of knowing I will always be protected, he is always watching out for me.

He Renames

Names carried a lot of significance in scripture. Throughout the Bible, people are introduced to us by name and by meanings of their name. Eve Was “ The mother of all the living.” Isaac was “laughter.” And Samuel was “asked of God” (Genesis 3:20; 21:6; Samuel 1:20),

What’s even more significance is the renaming of people in scripture. When God gave someone a new name, it was always a sign of renewed purpose and a redeemed life. God change Abrams name to Abraham to signify His promise to make him a father of many (Genesis 17:5). He change the names of Hosea’s children from No mercy and Not My People to My loved One and My People to symbolize His love for Israel and His plan to redeem her from idolatry (Hosea 1:2). Simon became Peter, and Saul became Paul when they became Jesus‘s disciples ( Matthew 4:18; Acts 13:9). They receive new identity in Christ as a they forsook live in the flesh.

While me we may not actually receive new names when we become Christ followers, we certainly receive new identities. My name Kathrine is a great reminder to me that I’m a pioneering woman, highly focused and achievement oriented, my name is Hebrew means pure. Because of Christ sacrifice, I am walking why did Snow, pure and clean. I get to wake up and put it on God’s righteousness every day as if it was my own.

So as I look forward to new situations I can trust and hope in my identity in Christ. I know that, no matter how I fail, God tender mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). He made me worthy of my name and called me His in Christ.

If you are in Christ, you have been given a new name, a new identity. You are living according to your new name with renewed purpose in redemption.

He Resurrects

God make dead things alive again. Literally. He has power over death in every sense, and He demonstrated that to us when He raised Jesus from the grave. Scripture says that, as believers, we have the same power dwelling as in us. It’s what gives life who are dead souls (Romans 8:11).

I can’t get easily discouraged when I think about how many times I’ve failed and given into temptation… just in the last week. End it makes the idea of fighting this battle for another year of Seen overwhelming. But this truth, that I have the same power that raised Christ from the grace dwelling in me, gives me great hope. If I lay down my weak, flawed existence every day, I can trust that God will resurrect it with a new life and new grace.

Do you trust in God‘s power to resurrect? Are you living in the truth that God can bring new life to your soul every day? Or are you living as one defeated by shame and sin?

All Things New

As I begin every day, I’m committed to hope in God’s power you make things new. He restores lost time, bestows new identities, and creates new life. He offers renewed mercy to His own each day. He promises good plans for His people, plans that include a hopeful future (Jeremiah 29:11).

So rather than seeing the start of another day as a daunting task to be met or an unknown to be feared, my prayer is that I can trust God’s sovereignty over new. There will be new blessings, new trials, new failures, and a new victories, but His goodness will guard them all.

The Benefits Of Toxic Interactions

“Toxic” has become a buzz win the last few decades, and we are continually encouraged to rid ourselves and protect ourselves from toxic people, situations, and relationships. That may be good advice, but it isn’t always practical. Why? Because sometimes, it isn’t easy to leave your job or relationship, and people with e generational are all around us no matter how much positive energy we exude; they are part of the landscape. So unless we self-isolate, we’re going to get exposed to people with a certain amount of negative vibes, and yes toxicity.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who haven’t learned strategies for living a positive life, managing stress or up overcoming their past trauma (I should know I lived with these toxic behaviors for years), Sometimes, they don’t behave like nice people. We should avoid toxicity when possible, but when you happen to be in a negative environment with negative people, you can try and reap the benefits.

As with everything else seemly negative there are benefits to toxic interactions.

Here are some that you can consider:

1. Learning A Lesson

Ask yourself: “what can I learn from this? Some, it’s patience, sometimes compassion and sometimes it’s how to rectify the same quality in ourselves.

A Rabbi named Baal Shem Tov, speaks of how a fault we see in another should serve as a manner in which we should seek the same fault – perhaps in a more subtle guise in ourselves. Otherwise, we would not have perceived it in another.

Ask your what the reason is and how you can apply it. It’s the theater of life, and the Director is putting you in the show. Try to respond the way you would if toy had an audience watching you. And you usually do. Everyone watches to see how others deal with difficult people. If we learn from one another how to do this, we might have fewer difficulties.

2. Give Of Yourself.

Try to discover what you can teach/give the other person. Challenge yourself to find something you can share with the other person that will make them better or happier.

Difficult people are often expressing a surfeit of pain and bitterness. Try and sweeten their life a little bit by understanding their pain, where it comes from and what you can do about it.

3. Embrace Gratitude.

It’s important sometimes to be exposed to the negativity in the world in order to appreciate the value of good in our own lives. Thank God, our situation has not reached some points of toxicity, and that we are not that grouchy, dismal person. (A least thank God, I’m not like that anymore).

4. Create More Good In The World.

Another benefit is that although exposure to toxic people can be stressful, it acts as a stimulus to make you more positive almost in self-defense. It’s sort of like an oyster secreting more pearl over the irritant that had entered its shell.

You may find that you are trying to cancel out the other person’s negativity with your own positivity, generating more positivity. Some, you may even succeed in rubbing off on them.

A Rabbi named Menachen Mendak once said: The loftier the soul, the greater the challenges and darkness surrounding it, like the most valuable pearl which is set in the largest encasement.

5. Uncover The Good.

Sometimes, people are very negative because they’re projecting their own feeling of low self-worth out into the world. If you can find something good about the person and reflect it back to them, that will soothe and temper their irascibility.

You can always find something nice to say about a person if you play detective and look good and hard.

I was listening to a speaker, a few years back, He told of a time when he was in his office and a man, visited his office every day to try and stir up trouble with him. The speaker said it was so bad, he felt like leaving every time the man would enter. One day he decided to try a different approach toward him. He starting saying the man “ You are sure a nice dresser, you’re always dressed in nice clothing.” Every time he seen the man he would compliment him on his clothing. After a while the man wasn’t as annoying as he was before. The speaker actually got him a job at a Taylor shop in the town he lived.

6. Speak Creativity.

Although you can’t always take a pause from someone, you can often take a break from them. If you take the initiative to find strategies to spend less time with them, it may ease the situation. Like the speaker that found something good to say to the annoying man by finding him a job. It sometimes calls on us to be creative and sensitive, and take initiative. Think of it like a sort of a game,

7. Learn To Protect Your Boundaries And Shine Your Sunshine.

There is a very important service that toxic people perform for you. They teach you to understand your limitations and protect your borders. They reinforce the idea that we have to be kind to ourselves in order to help others. And once we give ourselves the self-love we need, we are more flexible about being able to give it to others, even difficult people.

So accept the fact that someone you know might bother you or bring you down. But having taken steps to protect yourself from their negative influence with kindness, you will then be able to open yourself up a little bit and give them some of your own light.

It might not work all the time, but we are called to be a light.

As a people, we are exhorted to be a light among the nations (Isaiah 42:6). As individuals, we can be a light to one another.