Luke 21:1-28 In this passage of Luke Jesus warns His disciples about all the troubles they are going to experience in the future. He tells them that they will be persecuted, but it shall turn for them for a testimony. Whenever we go through trials and testings we add to our testimony.
Recently I heard a volunteer who works for an organization called “Voice of the Martyrs.” She and her husband go to various countries where there is persecution of Christians, and they obtain the testimonies of those being persecuted. They bring their testimonies back to the church in America and ask for us to pray for these ones who are going through such trials.
When she visited our church, this volunteer showed pictures of those who had been tortured in the Sudan by the Muslim radicals. These Christians were tormented until they recanted their faith. But most refused to recant. They remained strong for Jesus Christ, and what is most amazing, most of these Christians have never seen a Bible. They have had the Word preached to them, and just based on that Word, they feared the Lord and refused to deny their faith.
After teaching an eight-week session on “Growing in the Fear of the Lord,” I came to the understanding that one of the main ways to grow in the fear of the Lord is to hide God’s Word in your heart and meditate on it day and night. I exhorted the ladies I was teaching to read their Bibles daily. These Christians in Sudan, however, do not own Bibles, so how can they grow in the fear of the Lord? These Christians have hidden the Word in their hearts, and the Word is written on the tablets of their hearts. It does not take volumes of God’s Word to help us grow in the fear of the Lord. It only takes enough Word to build our faith, and then every time we remember that promise that built our faith, we become even stronger in our faith.
No one could face the tests and trials those Christians in the Sudan faced without having the hope of God’s promises securely in place in their hearts. The Word of God says we overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Testimonies are powerful, and this is why Satan tries so hard to ruin our testimony by trying to get us to sin. We have seen too much success lately in this tactic of the enemy.
Every testimony is based upon a trial of our faith, and when we reach heaven, these trials will turn to gold. Peter writes, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:6-7).
Today make it your goal to share your testimony with another, and Satan will not have success with you today. Your testimony is a mighty weapon against the enemy.
READ: Joshua 24:1-33; Luke 21:1-28; Psalm 89:38-52; Proverbs 13:20-23
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