I often wonder, as my mind always seem to do overtime...
Why do we go to church & give testimonies?
Why do we say, "I want to testify to the GOODNESS of the Lord"?
What don't our churches encourage us to give "BAD" testimonies?
We get sacked.
We get robbed.
We're denied visas...
We lose family members & friends.
We lose business deals.
We lose money in bad investments.
But I have never heard anyone come to testify about these things in church.
It's like church folks are trying too hard to convince people that "God is good" & He is, "all the time"...
😊
TESTIMONY TIME
(Habakkuk 3:17-18)
It was a glorious time of worship.
The 24 elders were singing, “Thou art worthy to take the book, & to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain & hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred & tongue & people & nation...
& hast made us unto our God kings & priests; & we shall reign on the earth…”
As they were done singing, the multitudes of angels raised their voices in unison, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, & riches, & wisdom, & strength, & honour, & glory, & blessing.”...
Then the entire congregation lifted up their voices & sang, “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, & to the Lamb”.
The anointing was very thick in the air.
I wondered why this service was so different from all the ones I had ever attended. Which Church is this?...
It must be the largest congregation ever assembled.
Trying to guess the size was enough to give anyone a headache. Angels were flying around in the air, the music was blaring everywhere, but I could not see any loudspeakers. The hall was limitless, the floor was made of gold...
The walls were like glass, translucent. The air was fresh & crisp. I stopped wondering where I was & enjoyed the ambience of the place…
Suddenly, the music stopped. The worship ceased. Everyone was silent. It seemed they were all taking their cue from some unseen source...
After a few minutes of silence, I heard a trumpet blast. Everyone bowed down. I bowed too, not wanting to be different. Who knows what punishment was marked out for the offender? A song broke out, & I joined in: “Thou art worthy o God, to receive glory honour & power...
for thou hast created all things & for thy pleasure they are, & were created”
As we were done singing, I suddenly saw Him.
He was clothed in majesty, riding a white horse.
His eyes were like fire, on His head was a glorious crown.
He stopped.
Then He called out:
“Stephen!”
A man walked up to him & everywhere was quiet again. Stephen looked around & started talking. “I was the first martyr for my Lord. I was stoned to death for holding unto my faith in my Lord Jesus Christ”. A loud round of applause was heard after Stephen’s short speech...
He called out again: “James!”
Another man walked up to the stage.
Everyone was quiet again.
“I was one of the 12 disciples of my Lord. We all forsook everything to follow Him. I was the first of the twelve to be killed for my faith in Him”. Another round of applause...
“Job!”
Job came out. I remembered his story: God wanted to prove to the devil Job was not serving Him for the blessings he was enjoying, so He allowed the devil to take away everything he had. He lost his business, lost his children & became physically sick…
“Paul!”
A small, bald man walked out. He told us how he had been beaten, shipwrecked, hungry, tired & imprisoned for the sake of the gospel.
“Peter!”
He came out, with a smile on his face. I whispered to the man standing next to me, “please, what’s going on?”
He turned...
“What is going on? Are you new here? It’s Testimony Time!”
Wow.
Testimony Time ke? 🤔
No wonder this congregation was so different from what I was used to.
You see, I came from a background where people come to testify of the good things they experienced...
🙄
These folks seem to come testify about the bad things that happened to them! We would testify about the blessings, the open doors, the breakthroughs.
These folks testify about death & sickness.
It was a bit confusing for me.
Just then, a man walked up to me...
He put his hand on my shoulder & said, “Hello, mate! My name is Habakkuk. Ever heard of me?” he had a twinkle in his eye. Of course, I had! So, this is what Habakkuk looks like, I thought.
“Son, the true sign of discipleship is not when the barn is full, but when it is empty...
What you do when things are not working out as planned is the true proof of your faith”.
in that moment, Job joined us. “Remember when my missus asked me to curse God & die? I told her we must learn to accept both good & evil...
As we testify about the good, we should testify about the evil also. All things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to His purpose.”
In that moment, I woke up. It was all a dream…
😇
Habakkuk 3:17-19
Romans 8:28
Job 2:9-10
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