The Power of Our Story...

There is something inherently powerful about our story - it is personal - something coming uniquely from us. It carries our personality, our experience to others. It connects to others - in a way no mere facts can. What do you do when you meet up with friends? You invite them to share their story - the reality of their life. "What's up?", "Tell me all about that." Story provides a connection, a context, a weight to your words that no mere facts or ideas can.

So why do I see so few Christians sharing their stories of real life, of their real day-to-day walk with God? Sharing their struggles, their victories, their learnings?

A few years ago I went thru a class focused on evangelism - one where we were to learn how to evangelize and to carry the "good news" to others. However, we were taught to use generic "illustrations", and were strongly discouraged from sharing our own stories. The end result was we, at best, only connected with the heads of the people we were speaking with. There was no personal connection, no real demonstration of the reality of what we spoke. People sometimes seemed to respond, but I question the depth and lasting impact of decisions they made as there was little demonstration of the reality of the stories we were telling...

This morning I was reading, and happened upon Revelation 12:11 - "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony..." This is speaking to the power of the saints (the "they" in vs. 11) to overcome the accuser (satan - "him" from vs 11). Their power to do this was two-fold - first from the work of Christ ("the blood of the Lamb") and second from "the word (Logos) of their testimony" - from witnesses to what God was doing in their lives. From the "Logos" - the living Word of God (See John Ch 1 - "The Word").

It's lately been striking me how much we need the word of our testimony in the world today - we need to stand as witnesses to all the Christ has done and is doing in our lives, both the great things and the things more subtle and small. Our testimonies have great power - both in the spiritual realm (as per the verse above), and also in our day-to-day communications. When we withhold our testimonies, we limit God's ability to work thru that part of our life...

As such, I have decided to make this blog a testimony of what God is doing in my life - a testimony to the struggles, failings, victories, and learnings that come day-to-day. Sometimes it may be deep and profound, other days it may just be simple and earthly. My prayer is that you experience the power of our living Lord more by my sharing of how I see him move. I pray that he move deeply in your lives, and that my testimonies here may encourage you to share the realities of how he is moving in your lives...

Ultimately, this is a big part of our calling as Christians - to witness to the reality and activity of God in our lives. According to Rev 12:11, this is also a big part of our victory over our enemy...