Last year I read an article about someone who was using a prayer jar as a means of recording answers to prayer (aka testimonies). I have a journal I use for this, but I really liked the idea of having a visual reminder on my bookshelf in my room of what God is doing in my life. So part way through the year I started a prayer jar of my own. On 31st December last year I found myself on holiday in Europe, staying at a friend’s apartment in Berlin. I had left the jar back in Christchurch but had brought the contents of it with me. Scattered before me were testimonies from the year, reminding me of God’s hand at work in my life.
This year I have embarked on the same journey of recording testimonies. In July I looked at the jar and realised how empty it was. Had I not been asking God for anything? Had I not been praying specifically? Or was God just not answering my prayers? Whatever the reason, I wasn’t okay with it being so empty. I wanted the jar to be fuller than it was. Over the month of July I pressed in deeper to God, being more specific in my prayer requests. It was during July that my jar suddenly started filling with testimonies. I can’t wait until 31st December to sit down somewhere peaceful with God and reflect on all that He’s been doing this year in my life and the lives of those I love.
There is no testimony more noteworthy than another. An answer to prayer regardless of whether it is for a great carpark, a smooth flight or for healing from cancer is more important than another. They are all answers to prayer. It is our earthly minds that try rank testimonies in order of importance. I believe that to God, they’re all equally important for they all demonstrate His love, His faithfulness and His heart towards the world.
Writing down answers to prayer is a choice. But I know now that it’s also an act of war. For John 10:10 says how ‘the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy.’ The enemy wants to rob me of my testimony, so that I try rationalise it by removing God’s hand from it and by saying it was a coincidence. Or worse still, he wants to destroy the testimony because I forget it because I didn’t take the time to write it down or speak it out.
Revelations 12:11 says: “They triumphed over him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Testimony is key in battle. It is a weapon that the enemy can’t defeat. A non-believer can try dismiss your testimony by saying it was a coincidence or you’re just ‘lucky’. Sometimes non-believers just can’t see God’s hand at work in a situation as they don’t have the Holy Spirit inside of them, which effects their ability to see the supernatural at work.
You may never know the impact your testimony is having on the person hearing it. Don’t dismiss it. Don’t silence it. Don’t try rationalise it. Thank God for it.
This year I have embarked on the same journey of recording testimonies. In July I looked at the jar and realised how empty it was. Had I not been asking God for anything? Had I not been praying specifically? Or was God just not answering my prayers? Whatever the reason, I wasn’t okay with it being so empty. I wanted the jar to be fuller than it was. Over the month of July I pressed in deeper to God, being more specific in my prayer requests. It was during July that my jar suddenly started filling with testimonies. I can’t wait until 31st December to sit down somewhere peaceful with God and reflect on all that He’s been doing this year in my life and the lives of those I love.
There is no testimony more noteworthy than another. An answer to prayer regardless of whether it is for a great carpark, a smooth flight or for healing from cancer is more important than another. They are all answers to prayer. It is our earthly minds that try rank testimonies in order of importance. I believe that to God, they’re all equally important for they all demonstrate His love, His faithfulness and His heart towards the world.
Writing down answers to prayer is a choice. But I know now that it’s also an act of war. For John 10:10 says how ‘the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy.’ The enemy wants to rob me of my testimony, so that I try rationalise it by removing God’s hand from it and by saying it was a coincidence. Or worse still, he wants to destroy the testimony because I forget it because I didn’t take the time to write it down or speak it out.
Revelations 12:11 says: “They triumphed over him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Testimony is key in battle. It is a weapon that the enemy can’t defeat. A non-believer can try dismiss your testimony by saying it was a coincidence or you’re just ‘lucky’. Sometimes non-believers just can’t see God’s hand at work in a situation as they don’t have the Holy Spirit inside of them, which effects their ability to see the supernatural at work.
You may never know the impact your testimony is having on the person hearing it. Don’t dismiss it. Don’t silence it. Don’t try rationalise it. Thank God for it.