Almost everyone in America claims to be a Christian (80-90%). Most don’t know the meaning of the word. For to be a Christian means to be a follower of Jesus and believing that Jesus is God and that is where it gets confusing. But that discussion is for an evangelical essay or a sermon by your favorite preacher.
This discussion is about those who have had that experience and know that they know that they have had an encounter with God, a spiritual awakening, a salvation experience, conversion or otherwise know that the Living God has dealt with them on a person basis. Something happened sometime and they are aware of it.
I am not talking about those who grew up in the church and have “always been a Christian”. I am speaking of those who remember the time and event when Jesus came into their heart. Most can vividly recollect that event. Somehow, many have difficulty expressing or having the confidence to express it to others. But this is the essence of Christian witness. This is how we pass on the good news of Jesus Christ. And it comes down to three points.
1.) How it was
2.) What happened
3.) How it is now
The above represents the outline of a basic testimony of Christian witness or telling your story. When you remember the event of your encounter with Christ, you can certainly remember the events leading up that encounter or How it was before you came to know Him. Some of our stories are more hellish than others but we have each live in our own person Hell. So we give a brief encounter of how our life was when we were utterly dependent on self and self nurture.
The middle part of the story usually has to do with events leading up to our call out to God. Oftentimes a form of brokenness, economic distress, loss of one form or another, health issues, etc. Basically, we come to the end of self or to a place where we cannot solve our problems anymore. That is when we reach out to find out if there is that heavenly Father that we have yearn for so long, but have been reluctant to seek out.
When we pray and ask for Jesus to come and take over our lives, he does exactly that. He come to live in us and we begin to change. Some quicker and some slower that others, but change always occurs. After a while, we mature in our new spiritual life and start to realize we are different than we use to be. That is when we have a story or testimony to relay to others.
The shortest testimony I know is “I was blind and now I see.”
Our booklet How to be a child of god has a complete witnessing section that explains thoroughly the process of telling your story. See it now by ebook at this website: howtobeachildofgod.com or prisonevangelism.com.
David Howell
Prison Evangelism, Inc.
510 Bering Drive
Suite 300
Houston, Texas 77057
713-623-0690
www.prisonevangelism.com