Hey so it has been a very long time since I posted to this blog and recently God has been reminding me of the place I came from and the place that be has brought me to today. I felt like I should share this - my testimony. The one about what God did in MY heart and how He spoke directly to ME and about how i (lowercase) responded to HIM (uppercase). My story! But really God's story. It is a short one as it is written but a long, ongoing journey as it is lived out day to day. It continues every second of every minute of every hour of my life. Sometimes it is tough and other times easy but I count every day that I am not only alive in the physical, but spiritually alive in Christ a blessing.
I only wish that you, whoever you are who is reading this, could have known me before I knew Jesus and could know me now, a couple years after having written the piece of text quoted below. The change is immense. God has separated my sin from me as far as the east is from the west. I used to be somebody who would break people down. I would destroy people emotionally and not even realize it. I was a drinker. I was living in sexual sin. I was addicted to myself. I was prideful and arrogant. I was above everyone else. Until God humbled my heart and showed me His glorious grace - Grace which enables and grace which transcends reason. Undeserved grace - and His unending love - Love which comforts and which speaks truth and life. I was saved out of the darkness and brought into the light! I was washed clean from my sin and my old life! Made new by the blood of Jesus!
This is my testimony - a testimony to the real, living, loving, present God and how he changes lives - You can't argue with a changed life!
God has turned me into somebody who builds people up, who encourages, who loves by action and words. He has made me pure and clean. He has humbled my heart and my head. He has shown me that others are more important than myself and taught me how to put other's interests above my own. He has made me new. The old has gone and the new has come. I have and constantly continue to put off my fleshly desires and to clothe myself in righteousness in Christ Jesus who has set me free.
So here it is-
My life
My God
My Jesus
My Testimony
I’ve been a Christian all my life. My family is not
extremely religious but my mom took me to Sunday school most Sundays so I was
taught basic Christian principles and bible stories from a young age. So I knew
the difference between right and wrong, heaven and hell etc. but I could never
really say that I knew God. When I grew too old for Sunday school and had to
start going to church it became boring to and I stopped going so often.
When I went to boarding school they had a “hostel cell” group
which I regularly attended and slowly grew stronger as a Christian and started
to question what was “OK” in the eyes of God and where one drew the line with
sin. I found that A LOT of people like to “bend the rules” to their convenience
and I was one of those people. A lukewarm Christian! Someone that claims to be
a Christian, but is content with minor sins. And that was where I was stuck. I
knew what was right and what was expected of me in the eyes of God but I life
was too good.
Last year (2011- 1st year varsity) I moved into a
flat with a good friend that is a devoted Christian. After a couple weeks he
managed to get me to watch a sermon that was saved on his laptop about “being
lukewarm and loving it”. It felt like it was directed right at me and talked
about how God wants us to be on fire for Him and stop being content with sin.
It says in Revelations 3: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor
hot. I wish you were either one or the other. So because you are lukewarm I am
about to spit you out of my mouth.” I knew after watching that that I had to
make some changes in my life if I didn’t want God to spit me out of His mouth. Then
I started to experience God more often and I thought it was coincidence. Random
people that I didn’t know came up to me and told me that I am not alone in my
struggle against sin and that there were other young guys and girls like me
that I can talk to that were struggling with exactly the same things as me. I
was mind blown. I thought “how can this guy possibly know what I’m going
through?” Then one of my friends told me over lunch one day about how he got
saved and how great it was to really know God and he introduced me to more
people that just couldn’t stop talking about God and how awesome he is. Then I
was invited to “community” (like a cell group). They were having a pancake
evening upstairs from where I stay so I decided to join and I came across more
people who couldn’t stop talking about God and how great his love is. It was
clear that all that was happening lately was no coincidence. I knew God was
calling me and it felt overwhelming. It was as if He was screaming at me
telling me to sort myself out and start living for Him if I wanted to end up in
heaven one day. And who doesn’t? So that’s when I decided to stop sinning and
to get to know God like I should. It has been a slow process so far because I
have a lot to sort out but and it feels great and I haven’t looked back since!
God's glory
God's victory
God's testimony
