The
Witness
God
desires for you to be involved in drawing people to His Word through a
dedicated life to Him and an active witness for Him. Paul Chappell
What does it mean to witness to others? Have you had struggles in your life? If you have ever lost a job, had an illness,
lost a loved one, had an addiction, been hurt by someone else then you qualify
as a witness. Too many times I think we
start thinking that to be a witness we must have a theological background, be
able to quote scripture or we must be able to explain why Jesus died on the
cross.
If in your lifetime you have struggled with anything you
are meant to be a witness to fulfill God’s purpose in your life. Being a witness doesn’t mean we brag about
how we survived the struggle. The only
reason any of us survive a hardship is because of God. It is not our abilities, a surgeon’s hands or
medical miracles. It is by God’s hand
that we survive the struggles of life.
When we face the struggles of life we can choose to do
several things. We can blame God, the
environment, other people and even those around us who try to help. We also have another option. We can praise God. In James 1:2-4 he tells us to count it all
joy when you fall into various trials, because knowing that the testing of your
faith produces patience. He tells us to
let patience have its perfect work, so that we may be perfect and complete,
lacking nothing.
One of the biggest struggles I have is patience when it
comes to God. We live in an impatient
society where patience is not considered a virtue. God has perfect timing. Did you catch the
last part of the verse? If we let
patience have its perfect work the result is so that we may be perfect and
complete, lacking nothing.
If you are struggling with something in your life, turn
it over to God. God can make each of us
a perfect witness for His kingdom. Take
your struggle and use it to help others to know God. You don’t have to be a missionary in another
country to witness to others. There are
people in your daily life that need a witness.
It’s not your job to
convince people to accept Christ. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job. If we forget the Holy Spirit’s job, we will
not be effective. Witness and let God
take it from there.
Prayer
for the Day:
Heavenly Father, I want to be a witness for Your Kingdom. Too many times I want to be in control and
direct the outcome. That is not my job
on earth. When hardships and trials come
my way, I can take them and turn them into blessings. Remind me to witness for the purpose of
showing others You, and then let the Holy Spirit handle the rest.
Scripture: And being assembled together
with them, He
commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the
Father, “which,” He said, “you
have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be
baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had
come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the
kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times
or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me
in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1:4-8
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