…they conquered Him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. Rev 12:11 (ESV)
True Story – Part 5
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Revelation 12:11 says, “they conquered Him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.”
We don’t conquer others with our testimonies; we don’t testify of our experiences and beliefs to overcome the experiences and beliefs of others. We conquer the evil that seeps into our own hearts and lives with what we know to be true about redemption, faith, hope, and love. As John calls him in Revelation 12, “The deceiver of the whole world” tells us his lies; he impresses upon us lies that hatred, marginalisation, misogyny, greed, lust and hopelessness are our only options. But our experiences with Christ, and the way his story became ours when he suffered on the cross, our testimony enables us to overcome the deceiver's advances and helps us choose instead, love over hatred, peace over anger, and hope over greed.
Our testimony reminds us to choose the way of Christ over the way of the Deceiver. Our lives testify to the power of it.
So, when we sit with someone who is full of all kinds of trouble or heartache, or when we see something blogged about or a status on Facebook that we don’t agree with, rather than using our testimony as a weapon or a tool in the face of these things, let it whisper to our hearts soft reminders of what we know to be true about compassion, kindness, strength and hope. Let its reminder influence our presence in the situation.
There will always be a time to talk about the things God has done for you, the things you know to be true and your convictions. But they are not your testimony. They are a part of your story, but not your story in its entirety. A huge challenge the Christian world is facing is that our entire story is becoming about who and what we are against and who we do not agree with, rather than a complete story of compassion, wisdom, presence, grace and redemption.
Part of the deception is that we can beat someone into believing what we do by forcing our beliefs upon them. But usually, this just pushes people further away. We get caught up in telling the whole world who we are and what we believe in rather than just being who we are and believing what we believe in.
There’s a quote on the wall above my desk that says, “good stories tell themselves.” And it is completely true. The story of your life will tell itself, don’t jam it up with too many descriptive words.
Let your testimony minister to you.
And just be.
And in that place, you can be present with others and really hear and see them and what they’re going through. Just as Christ does with us. And in this place, true fellowship and connection flows, stories are exchanged through experience, not just words. And the deceiver and his lies are conquered day by day, moment by moment.
Story by story.
Go to Part 6 – Unashamed »
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