Everyone has a testimony, but many don’t share it for different reasons. I never believed that my testimony was anything special. One thing I realized is that testimonies are not meant to glorify yourself or your sin. They are meant to glorify God. Me not sharing my testimony is giving glory to the enemy. The thief does not come except to STEAL, to KILL, and to DESTROY. Jesus says “I have come that they may have LIFE, and that they may have it more ABUNDANTLY.” John 10:10. Without God, we are all damaged goods by the fall. It’s up to us to turn to God and receive a new identity in Him.
Too many times people put their identity in worldly things. In reality, when you do that you don’t actually know yourself. Therefore, people will go searching for their identity in something besides the Creator. God can’t bless what you are pretending to be. That’s how we misplace our purpose/value and what we think it is. Don’t waste any more time placing your identity in something else! When you switch your identity to what God says, that is when your life begins to make sense.
This is how I think you can change your identity: first, you have to acknowledge the areas that you haven’t healed from and give them to God. Some of these areas were caused by yourself or someone else who made that choice for you. Either way, if you ignore them, it will cause your life to go down a different road than the one you are supposed to go down. Also by ignoring them, those areas will become your excuse for why your purpose isn’t reached. Then your view on God gets a little blurred because you’re living a life with anxiety, depression, anger issues, insecurities, and so on.
The body is broken into three parts: mind (soul), body and spirit (God). When the enemy attacks, he will attack your mind and your body but he cannot touch the spirit. The spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit that lives in the world. 1 John 4:4. When your mind or your body gets attacked, you lose value in yourself if your identity is not in the Lord. God loves you where you are at right now because He knows the value was never in your mind or your body but in the spirit within.
I love this example. You have two canned goods – one is damaged by the outside and nobody wants it and the other one is in perfect condition. The damaged one just keeps getting pushed to the back of the shelf. God wants that can, because He can restore that can and ultimately put it in a new can altogether (his identity). The green beans in the can still have their value and are usable because His spirit within us can never be affected by the outside. He doesn’t call you by your sin, He will call you by your name.
How loving is our God! He is waiting for people to come to Him. When people do come to Him, He isn’t asking where they came from. He is just happy to have His son or daughter back with Him. After they receive His identity, that is when their purpose will be able to blossom. Even after you put your identity in Him, the enemy will still try to attack you but it will only be surface level because you know where He stands.
I feel like it’s only right that I share part of my testimony.
Growing up, I always went to church. I lived a pretty normal life. As I got older, I was searching for something, not knowing what it was I was searching for. While searching, I of course made mistakes and did things that I’m not proud of and chose to walk on a different path than God. I wanted to be an adult and make my own choices. I guess you could say I was rebelling. I got to a place in my life where I wasn’t happy, but I didn’t know the steps to get back on the right path. Until one day, I had no choice but to lean on God, and He was there, just like He always is! Yes, He was there for me but now I had to deal with the consequences of my actions. After learning God is too powerful to leave me to deal with my consequences on my own, I realized He was with me every step of the way. He can wipe your heart clean and you don’t have to look back. My testimony isn’t about my bad decisions, it’s about God healing me, putting back together my broken pieces, and never leaving me when I chose to walk away. I thank God for my story because of who I am today, and of how the Lord restored me.
I pray, Lord, that the people searching for something will find You. I pray that the areas that were ignored will start to come up so they can finally give them to You. I pray they would feel Your peace and comfort during their time of healing. I pray You will restore them and give them redemption for what was taken by the enemy. I pray they can then use their testimony to give glory to You and begin fulfilling the purpose that you had intended for them since the beginning. Amen.
