A Passion that Testifies!
"By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me: TO WHOM I SAID, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?" Song of Solomon 3:1-3
The New Living Translation reads like this, "I will get up now and roam the city, searching for him in all its streets and squares. But my search was in vain. The watchmen stopped me as they made their rounds, and I said to them, Have you seen him anywhere, this one I love so much?"
Her passion for her beloved moved her to action. Passion will do that; it can't be explained by the ordinary…known by sedentary….and is usually rejected because of the familiarity. Yet, to her, she was willing to go beyond what was explainable by normal standards because of her passion.
When the watchmen of the city found her searching her lover at night, she immediately questioned them, "Have you seen the one I love so much?"
What a testimony!
Your passion for Jesus will have a testimony. A testimony of who He is and what He had done for you and in you!
It's a testimony you aren't ashamed of; no matter who makes fun or looks at you with a bewildered face…it's your testimony of Him!
The woman at the well left her water pots at noon day and ran into the city with this testimony, "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? (John 4:29)
The word testimony is defined as "an open acknowledgement." This is what makes testimonies powerful…they are given unashamedly. When you don't care who knows but you just care that everybody knows….knows that you are identified with him, because of who He is and because of what He has done.
Her testimony was that she loved him! How well do I remember as a kid growing up in church when it was a regular part of our mid-week worship service to have what we called "testimony services." People were given the chance to stand and testify for the Lord. It was almost as important as the preaching and often better than the singing at times. Some seemed to have a special gift for giving their testimonies. Powerful and exciting open acknowledgements of God's faithfulness. Some wouldn't give testimonies but "terror stories" about how the devil had tormented them or some silly nonsense that didn't mean nothing to the worship service. I do miss those times…I often would like to have them again, but unfortunately, so many seek to "toot their own horn" about how great they are or how good the devil is doing his job or bore us with their tale of defeat and rob God of His good time to be worshipped that we can't have them any more; but yet still, we can have a testimony where it means the most and counts the greatest…OUTSIDE THE WALLS OF OUR CHURCHES!
The unbeliever is never made a believer by what we say inside our sacred shrines, only what is lived out in our lives; where the rubber of real life meets the road of trials, adversities and our faith that acts all circumstances to honor to our Lord!
Our testimony is that "we love Him because He first loved us!" (1 John 4:19) Paul the great Apostle gave a good example of a testimony in Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
"TO WHOM I SAID…" it is written…she gave her testimony because she had a passion. That may be why we don't see more testimonies outside the church walls because of our lack of passion…our passion has been replaced by passivity!
It might be the number one reason why so many don't want what we profess because what we do share is passive and not birthed with passion. We seek to be "politically correct," rather than passionately connected to Him and "preoccupied with our self" rather than possessed by His Spirit!
"I said to them, Have you seen him anywhere, this one I love so much?"
Until my next blog confabulation…God bless!
The New Living Translation reads like this, "I will get up now and roam the city, searching for him in all its streets and squares. But my search was in vain. The watchmen stopped me as they made their rounds, and I said to them, Have you seen him anywhere, this one I love so much?"
Her passion for her beloved moved her to action. Passion will do that; it can't be explained by the ordinary…known by sedentary….and is usually rejected because of the familiarity. Yet, to her, she was willing to go beyond what was explainable by normal standards because of her passion.
When the watchmen of the city found her searching her lover at night, she immediately questioned them, "Have you seen the one I love so much?"
What a testimony!
Your passion for Jesus will have a testimony. A testimony of who He is and what He had done for you and in you!
It's a testimony you aren't ashamed of; no matter who makes fun or looks at you with a bewildered face…it's your testimony of Him!
The woman at the well left her water pots at noon day and ran into the city with this testimony, "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? (John 4:29)
The word testimony is defined as "an open acknowledgement." This is what makes testimonies powerful…they are given unashamedly. When you don't care who knows but you just care that everybody knows….knows that you are identified with him, because of who He is and because of what He has done.
Her testimony was that she loved him! How well do I remember as a kid growing up in church when it was a regular part of our mid-week worship service to have what we called "testimony services." People were given the chance to stand and testify for the Lord. It was almost as important as the preaching and often better than the singing at times. Some seemed to have a special gift for giving their testimonies. Powerful and exciting open acknowledgements of God's faithfulness. Some wouldn't give testimonies but "terror stories" about how the devil had tormented them or some silly nonsense that didn't mean nothing to the worship service. I do miss those times…I often would like to have them again, but unfortunately, so many seek to "toot their own horn" about how great they are or how good the devil is doing his job or bore us with their tale of defeat and rob God of His good time to be worshipped that we can't have them any more; but yet still, we can have a testimony where it means the most and counts the greatest…OUTSIDE THE WALLS OF OUR CHURCHES!
The unbeliever is never made a believer by what we say inside our sacred shrines, only what is lived out in our lives; where the rubber of real life meets the road of trials, adversities and our faith that acts all circumstances to honor to our Lord!
Our testimony is that "we love Him because He first loved us!" (1 John 4:19) Paul the great Apostle gave a good example of a testimony in Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
"TO WHOM I SAID…" it is written…she gave her testimony because she had a passion. That may be why we don't see more testimonies outside the church walls because of our lack of passion…our passion has been replaced by passivity!
It might be the number one reason why so many don't want what we profess because what we do share is passive and not birthed with passion. We seek to be "politically correct," rather than passionately connected to Him and "preoccupied with our self" rather than possessed by His Spirit!
"I said to them, Have you seen him anywhere, this one I love so much?"
Until my next blog confabulation…God bless!
Labels: Song of Solomon
0 comments:
Post a Comment