One Saturday a few years ago, an ‘unknown’ albeit familiar looking young woman came for our prayer meeting. At the end she came to speak to me and confirmed that indeed she had been at our Pentecost seminar with my dear friend pastor Samson from the UK. She came back to testify to what God did for her during the seminar. She had come forward to receive prayer to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be healed. After prayer she received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, then I had someone pray for her healing.
And that is why that Saturday she did a two hour trip to see us in our own church premises so as to testify as to what God had done for her. She told us that from that day on, she was completely healed, all the pain was gone. I was glad she were healed and I was also glad that she took the trouble to come back and let us know. We need to keep telling what God has done for us. Many people do not testify yet the Bible says ‘forget not His benefits’. When Jesus healed the ten lepers, only one came back to say thank you, and Jesus commended him for it. I believe He was commending the sister on that Saturday.
Many receive and just walk away, some will even complain, despite the grace they received, that the messsage was too long, the songs too loud, etc, etc. Gratitude and testimony, these are power twins. Over the years we have by the grace of God ministered to thousands of people and not many have sent in a testimony. Had she not come back we would never had known she was healed, and would never have held it against her. Why is it so important to say thank you? Why was her gesture so significant?
- To testify is to celebrate the goodness and glory of God.
- It attracts even greater favour on our lives.
- It also greatly encourages those who worked to create the forum for people to come and be blessed by God.
- It encourages the people who prayed for her to know that God moved as a result of their prayers.
- It demonstrates the love of God and encourages other people needing healing to believe that God is no respecter of persons and He will touch them too.
[Tweet “To testify is to celebrate the goodness and glory of God.”]
So we constantly encourage people to boast about the goodness of God and celebrate the kindness of our Lord. Some do not like to testify, they believe it is ‘their story’. Beloved, no, it is not ‘your’ story, it is ‘God’s story’. It is a demonstration of His faithfulness and you should sing it out from the rooftops. In our church, we have a culture of testimony. Consequently, we always have testimonies of what God is doing in people’s lives. But what a blessing when someone from outside the ministry takes the trouble to come back and tell us what God has done in their life.
Shalom!
[tweetthis remove_hidden_hashtags=”true” remove_hidden_urls=”true”]Gratitude and testimony, these are power twins. [/tweetthis]
PS You may have been inspired by this testimony. If you have been touched by God at any of our meetings, by a message heard online, on tape, by a tv programme or an article, and you want to share the story, rush and do so. Every testimony matters.
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(this is a rewriting of an initial article published as Testimony and gratitude – the power twins)