Testimony

I remember a conversation with a fellow pastor where he grieved over the lack of joy, peace, freedom, victory, and above all intimacy with Christ in the lives of those he pastored and who professed to be devoted followers of Jesus. Jesus once asked the question that upon His return to the earth at some future time, "will I find faith" in the hearts and lives of His people? If He were to come back today, would He find the kind of faith that overcomes the world in me? Would He find it in you? I think the answer can be found in the words that we speak in the course of a day. In the course of this day.

Our words, thoughts, expectations, and attitudes are a great part of our testimony of faith. They show where our hearts and faith really are. So many who take His name can, in all of the above areas, give a lengthy litany of what's wrong in their lives. Their troubles, their lack, where He appears to not be listening, and on and on. The "testimony" is joyless and lifeless, even indignant. We pray and request prayer, but too often in language that shows little expectation of anything changing or even being answered. We know the words of Psalm 40, that, "He lifted my feet out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock, making my footsteps firm." We well know the miry clay and the pit of destruction. They seem to be all we can see. We know of the Rock, even believe in the Rock, but it, He, seems very vague, almost unreal. In any case, we speak little of the Rock but much of the pit and the miry clay.They're what's most real to us. We expect that this is what our lives will mostly be about. A living hope in Jesus Christ only seems to be about the future eternity, not the here and now.

Have you ever heard of the term "praying through?" In today's instant gratification world and church, it doesn't get much notice, but those whose lives reflect victory, joy, peace, and freedom, have all that because they have learned the secret of overcoming prayer. David, the psalmist, knew what it was to live in the pit of miry clay, but he also knew what it was to be lifted out of it and set upon the rock of Christ. He sought Him through all the darkness and difficulties of his life until he broke through all that kept Him from his sight and took hold of the One who Light. This is what it is to "pray through." We seek Him in the face of all difficulty and we don't cease until we lay hold of Him, and He desires with all His being that we should. He provides all the grace we need for it to be so. Yet we give up so easily. The pit and the clay are more real than He is.

How many of us pray until we really pray? That is, how many of us can pray in such a way that we go past the shallow requests we seem to get hung up on, things we want Him to do or give, and lay hold of His heart? Our objective is to get out of the pit and clay. He wants us to know that even in the pit and clay, He can set us upon His rock, His solid ground. It will always be the result of breaking through, praying through to Him.

Pits and mire await us all. We can surrender to them or, we can set our hearts upon Him, reaching to the hands that are always reaching towards us. In the deepest pit and thickest clay, we can lay hold of Him. The result will be a "new song in our hearts and mouths." A testimony of life and victory to a church and world desperate to hear it. Will they hear it from you and me? If He comes today, will we be singing it?

Blessings,

Pastor O