living testimony – Through Jesus' Love

Our Living Testimony Changes More than Our Words

1 Peter 3:1-2
Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

God is a respecter of no man. Therefore, what He directs to one, He directs to another. Therefore, whatever He directs to the wives, He also directs to the husbands. Therefore, whatever He directs to husbands and wives, He also directs for all relationships.

What Peter is teaching us is that we do not change the lives of our mates, or others around us, by our words. We change the lives of those around us by changing our own lives in accordance with the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Through our new lives in Christ, and not through our words, all around us are drawn to the truth that is working within us.

As the Holy Spirit changes us, He will also change our spouses and others in our lives. The Holy Spirit will work continuously to strengthen our marriages by making Jesus Christ the foundation of our union. He will work continuously to open the eyes of those around us to the way, the truth and the life that is in Jesus.

Let us seek the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us. Let us strive to have the world see the presence of Jesus Christ in our daily lives. Let us lead lives that are marked by purity and reverence.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the institution of marriage. We thank You for providing us with mates who complete us in Christ. We pray, Lord, that You will show us how to surrender our individual lives to the work of the Holy Spirit so that He can build the foundations of our marriages in Jesus Christ. We thank You for providing us with friends and family to help build us up. May our lives open their eyes to the wondrous work of Jesus Christ. May He become the cornerstone of all our lives. We ask all these things in the name of our rock and our foundation, Jesus Christ.

Our Lifestyle Draws More to Christ Than Eloquent Speech

2 Timothy 4:2
Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.

We are commanded to preach the Word of God. We are commanded to be prepared to preach the Word. Are we ready?

Jesus Christ, the Living Word, came to earth to teach about His Father in heaven and to reveal the salvation plan. A large portion of His message was presented through the way that He lived and loved among the people. He used His miracles to exhibit His love and to gain attention for His message – especially for those that would not listen to His message otherwise.

So it is with us. Because most of the world now has hardened hearts for the spoken Word, we must draw them to the Word by the way that we live our lives. Our living testimony of the miracle that occurred in our lives through Jesus Christ must be the message that those around us see day in and day out. Once they see the miraculous way that our lives have changed and they see the joy that we have regardless of circumstances, the comfort we have regardless of our trials and the love that we share through good times and bad, they will be drawn to the fount that sustains us. The way we live will say more and teach more than we could convey with eloquent speech. To preach the Word is more about how we live than how we orate.

Let us live in the fullness and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Let the world be drawn to Our Savior by our living testimonies.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the living presence of Your Son in our lives. We bless the name of Jesus who dwells within us so that we may be vessels of His perfect love. We pray that we may become broken vessels, surrendered to Our Savior, so that the world may be drawn to Him by the Light that lives within us and shines forth from us. Once those around us have been drawn to us by the lives in Christ that we are living, we pray that You give us the strength and the boldness to proclaim the gospel. We ask that You open the ears of those around us and prepare their hearts to receive their Savior. We ask all these things in the mighty name of the One who gives grace to the humble, Jesus Christ.

How We Live Conveys More Than Our Words

2 Timothy 4:2
Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.

We are commanded to preach the Word of God. We are commanded to be prepared to preach the Word. Are we ready?

Let us live in the fullness and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Let the world be drawn to Our Savior by our living testimonies.

Proving Ourselves as Witnesses to Him

Romans 14:7
For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.

To live for ourselves alone is evidence that we are strangers to Jesus Christ. If it is our main purpose to gratify our flesh, to gain material things and to become the center of our social activities, it is evidence that we are not living according to the Good News of the Gospel.

The church is called the Body of Christ because we are all one in Christ. Each one of us is inseparable from the other. Each one of us is inseparable from Our Savior. We are all different in our strengths, our capabilities and our practices. Yet we all are one in union with the Lord. We should all be looking to serve and prove ourselves as witnesses to Him. The spiritual health of others should be as important to us as our own spiritual health. The Body of Christ depends on our acceptance of our responsibility to be poured out for Christ.

No one who has given his or her life to Christ is a self-seeker. The true purpose of our lives is to please God not ourselves. Through the grace of God, we are able to identify fully with both the life and the death of Jesus Christ, Our Savior.

Let us search our own lives to insure that we are approving ourselves to Christ in service to all mankind. Let our lives be living testimonies to our thanks for all that Jesus has done for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the grace that You provide that we may not live for ourselves but that we may live for Our Savior, Jesus Christ. We bless the name of Jesus who died for us so that we may live for Him and serve Him in the Body of Christ. Lord, we pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us how to be responsible members of the Body of Christ. We ask, dear Jesus, that You help us to understand that our sufficiency is in You and not in ourselves. Guide us to the strengths, the capacities and the processes that You have set aside for us to serve You. Allow our lives as Your servants to be our proclamation of thanksgiving for all that You have provided. We ask all these things in the Righteous and Holy Name of Jesus Christ.

Showing the World the Love and Power of Jesus in Our Lives

Luke 4:18
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,”

The words in Luke 4:18 were spoken by Jesus himself in the synagogue. He was confirming all the things that the Scripture said that He was anointed to do on earth. Later, before He left them, Jesus told the disciples that they would be able to do and should do more than He did. He let them know that where they were weak in the flesh that He would send the Holy Spirit to perfect His strength in their weaknesses. As Jesus instructed His disciples, He was also instructing us. All these things have been set aside for us as well.

How shortsighted we are when we accept Our Savior’s invitation for salvation, but do not believe in the fullness of our redemption. Not only did Our Lord come to redeem us from our sins, but He also came in His power and grace to free us from all the bondages of this world. Though we may currently suffer in the flesh, He released us into the world with freedom and joy in the spirit so that the world may know Him through our living testimonies.

The fullness of our redemption is not just for our own benefit. We have each been anointed in different ways to do all the things that Jesus Himself was called to do as the Son of Man.

Let us boldly seek the Holy Spirit to guide us in joining Jesus in carrying out His work for the Father. Let us experience the fullness of our redemption. Let us allow the world see the love and power of Jesus through our daily lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for anointing us to do Your good work. We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to receive our anointing. We rejoice in knowing that the Holy Spirit dwells within us to insure that where we are weak in our flesh, we will be made strong in Christ. We pray, Lord, that You show us how to take claim of the fullness of our redemption. Whatever our current situation may be, may we take on the joy and comfort of Your completed promises. May we find peace knowing that Your power is working in us. May the world see the anointing that is upon us because Our Savior is within us. We pray all these things in the name of our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Empowered Beyond Our Natural Capabilities

Romans 8:11
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Once we have accepted Jesus Christ as Our Savior, we are immediately and permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit of the Lord. The Holy Spirit works in and through us to accomplish the will of God. His power leads us, convicts us, teaches us, and equips us to do the work that God has set aside for us.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we receive all of His gifts: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We are provided these gifts so that we may proclaim the Good News of the Gospel through our living testimony.

The Holy Spirit’s powerful indwelling is an amazing gift we should never take lightly. Because the Spirit of the Lord is within us, we also receive the powers that Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would receive by way of the Spirit of God resting upon Him. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed that Jesus would be endowed by the Holy Spirit. “And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him–the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.” Isaiah 11:2

Let us live in the confidence and the power that the Holy Spirit gives us. Let us use the wisdom and understanding we are given to perceive the truth that God reveals to us so that we are able to convey it to others. Let us use the counsel and might that we have been given to originate, plan and execute the work that God calls us to do. Let us take our new found knowledge and fear of the Lord so we are able to live our lives surrendered to Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gifts and the power that we receive through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We praise the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to receive this supernatural blessing that empowers us far beyond our natural capabilities. We pray that the influence and power of the Holy Spirit will be manifest in all that we do. We ask that we may be made fruitful vessels of the fullness of Your Holy Spirit working in our lives. We ask all these things in the name of Our Keeper and Our King, Jesus Christ.

Discernment That Transforms Annoyance into Intercession

Psalm 123:3
Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt.

Every day the world around us seems to get more contentious and contemptuous. Webster defines contempt as “feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn.” We see dramatic outpourings of contempt in the news and throughout social media. We certainly recognize the contempt that unbelievers often have for our faith as disciples of Jesus Christ. As a result of the contempt that we encounter, hopefully we are quick to ask the Lord to open the eyes of those around us so that their scorn for us is replaced by a desire to learn from us the way, the truth and the life that we have in Jesus. But is that the case?

When we are out in the world, how are we reacting to those that annoy us? Are we taking an intercessory path or are we treating them with contempt? Are we losing our testimony because of an ugly glare or quick nasty comment that destroys our message of salvation? Are we leaving the world with a taste of our nasty attitude instead of the love of the One who we have accepted as Our Savior?

Let us be fully aware that the world is filled with contempt, but as Christians we are not of this world. Let us refuse to be swamped by the cares and challenges of life. Let us turn over the annoyances that we run into in the world and let God handle them in the courts of heaven. Let us ask the Lord to give us discernment in all things so that we are known by our intercession and not by our criticism. Let us exchange our contempt for others with our loving care for others.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your mercy that You have extended to us so that we may be able to extend mercy to others. We praise the name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is our Mediator who stands for us to correct every wrong and every injury as any good master would do for his slave. We pray, Lord, that we will not faint under our trials in this world, but we will look unto the name of Jesus in faith and in prayer so that we may be vessels of His perfect love and forgiveness so that the world may know Him by our actions. We ask all these things in the name of Our Merciful Lord, Jesus Christ.

All of Our Triumphs Are in Him

2 Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, all of our triumphs are in Him. All of our success, especially our success in leading others to the Lord, are reasons for each of us to rejoice. In our joy, we must go forward in life, not covered in pride, but covered in the sweet aroma of His presence.

While it is a wonderful thing for us to proclaim to the world how Our Savior atoned for our sins and made us worthy to be heirs of the kingdom of Almighty God, our living testimony should be much more. The world should be able to see the presence of Jesus in every single action we take and in every single word that we speak. The world should be able to savor the experience of being near Jesus Christ just by being near us. This should be especially true when we gain victory during times of trial and tumult.

Let us surrender to the power and the presence of the Lord in every battle we face. Let us give Him the glory in every victory and share the sweetness of His presence with the world around us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for making us conquerors over all things in this world. We rejoice in the victories that we claim through Your Son, Jesus. We ask that we be given the grace to overcome the arrogance and the pride that naturally come with victory. We pray that in every victory that all praise, honor and glory will go to You Father, to Your Son and to the Holy Spirit. May the aroma of the One who brought the victory be spread around the world as we become living testimonies to His presence in our lives. We ask these things in the name of the Rose of Sharon, Jesus Christ.

The Power of Modeling Christ in Our Lives

Matthew 5:48
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

When Jesus spoke to His disciples, He knew full well that they were incapable of being perfect. He was asking them to consider the manner in which they represented Him. He wanted their behavior to distinguish them from others in the world around them. He wanted them to be living examples of the good character of the representatives of His kingdom.

We are most comfortable in life when we are around people we like. We also feel comfortable when we are asked to do things that we know that we are capable of doing successfully. In these times of ease, our personality and our capabilities often shine and our performance appears to be nearly perfect, at least from a secular standpoint. While this type of behavior is certainly good, it generally will not separate us from the secular crowd. We are likely to rely on our own strengths, resulting in us just blending into society without reflecting the presence and character of the One who dwells within us.

On the other hand, when we are challenged by our circumstances and we purposely follow the perfect example of Jesus and draw on Him for our strength, our behavior as His representatives will draw the others to Our Savior. When we seek and allow the fruits of the Holy Spirit to flow through us, the world around us will see us modeling the life of Our Savior and be drawn to Him.

Jesus commands us to make it our duty to desire to press forward in grace and holiness, so that we may conform ourselves to His example under even the most difficult circumstances. He desires for us to be perfect like the Father.

Let us lean on the Son of God as our model and submit to His indwelling Spirit in our lives. Let us strive for the perfection that He is calling us to. Let us draw the world to Our Savior as they see us modeling Jesus Christ in our daily lives regardless of our circumstances.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, to be our perfect model for life. We thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to guide us to follow Jesus’ example. We rejoice in knowing that our obedience will result in the fruit of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the world around us. We pray that we may exhibit unusual love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control as we are being taxed by our situations. May You receive all the praise and glory, Lord. We ask all these things in the name of the perfect Son of the Most High God, Jesus Christ.

The Visible Expression of Jesus in Our Lives

1 John 3:18
Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

There is an old adage that states that actions speaker louder than words. Nowhere is the old adage more applicable than in our living testimony. No one wants to learn about Jesus from us if they have not seen Jesus in our lives.

Our greatest orations will never win a soul without a visible expression in our lives that we are living what we are preaching and teaching. Let those around us see the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When others see these things, they will seek the source. We will not have to say a word to entice them.

Jesus understood human nature completely. Thus He labored constantly among the people, showing them His perfect love and forgiveness. His living testimony drew people to the message that He had come to deliver. We can do the same if we labor in deed and in truth.

Let us serve one another and bear one another’s burdens. Let us build up one another in faith and minister to those around us with cheerfulness. Let us draw others to Jesus through our living testimony.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for providing Your Son as a living example of the way, the truth and the life that You intend for us to accept and to proclaim. Blessed is the name of Jesus who surrendered all so that we may be drawn to Him, receive Him as Our Savior and allow His presence to flow through us to the world around us. We pray that our lives will become living testimonies of the One who dwells within us. We ask all these things in the name of the Prince of Life and Peace, Jesus Christ.