“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Revelations 12:11
For four weeks now, this blog has looked into “prayer” from different aspects. What comes next after prayer is the word of our testimony. Your testimony is evidence of your prayer. However, we sometimes side-line the position of our testimonies. I don’t mean the testimony shared during testimony time at church. What I mean is what you speak. A person who finds himself in a dangerous situation and immediately shouts “I’m dead” has most likely just sealed his fate with the words of his testimony.
Revelations 12:11 lets us know that the saints overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the words of their testimony.
Faith is in speaking too. We believe, therefore we speak. So when you pray, you must also speak out the results of those prayers in faith. This is how we overcome. (2 Cor. 4:13)
Why is it important that we testify? It is because testifying is affirming all that we have prayed for by calling forth things which be not as though they are Rom. 4:17. What gives us the confidence to do this? It is the word of God that tells us whatever we ask in prayer, we should believe we receive Mark 11:24.
What is your testimony? The blood of Jesus and the power therein is already made available to every believer through Jesus Christ Himself. But we are the ones to keep our own end of the covenant by aligning the words of our testimony. Maybe Job’s story would have been a little different if he hadn’t spoken so much like a defeated person.
What is your testimony?
Let’s take a dive into the story of David before he became king. Standing before him was an 11.35 feet-tall Philistine and it seemed like he was walking straight towards his death. But did you know that even before he put that stone into the sling to aim at Goliath, he already had the victory? How? He had testified it. He recounted how God had helped him in the past, recounted that he was different from Goliath by the reason of his covenant with God –the circumcision which equals the blood of Jesus for believers of today –and then went ahead to speak what was going to become of Goliath. He called forth what was not yet in existence as though it was. (1 Samuel 17: 1-51)
Testimony can also mean evidence. So when scripture tells us we overcome by the words of our testimony, it simply means we overcome by our evidence. For every believer, our greatest evidence is the scripture because it is not just self-fulfilling and living, it is also God’s written word that cannot be changed or altered.
“For every believer, our greatest evidence is the scripture because it is not just self-fulfilling and living, it is also God’s written word that cannot be changed or altered.”
faith + blog.
When you’re praying and you testify that you are healed even when the doctors say otherwise, your evidence of that healing is in scripture. Even when your account balance is red and you choose to testify that you lack nothing based on Psalm 23:1, that is your evidence. So when the enemy tries to challenge your prayers, you show him evidence in the scripture through your testimony. This is how we overcome. After all, when Jesus was being tempted, He used the scripture as the word of His testimony and He overcame (Matthew 4:4-6).
Even when you are a victim of Satan’s deceptions or accusations, you can overcome by the blood of the Lamb (Jesus’s sacrifice) and the word of your testimony. When he comes with allegations of your past, you can testify of God’s word that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1).
We also overcome sin and death by the word of our testimony. Jesus’s blood grants us salvation but Romans 10:9 tells us that “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”. Coming into that salvation made available by Jesus can only be through your confession of Him as your Lord and Saviour.
Testifying of the Lord’s goodness.
As earlier mentioned, when David was confronted with Goliath, he started by recounting his former victories in the Lord (1 Samuel 17:34-37). Testimonies should not just be for sharing in the church alone. Share your testimonies to yourself. When you recount all your blessings and forget not the benefits of the Lord as Psalm 103:2 says, you encourage yourself in the Lord. If you’ve ever hit a milestone, you would agree with me that this is true. When you remember how you were able to get through obstacles a, b and c, it would be hard convincing you otherwise about obstacle d. When we testify of God’s goodness, recounting His blessings, we become more encouraged to face whatever battle lies ahead.
“The first step towards victory is to gain courage.”
~Plutarch.
Nevertheless, words of testimony or affirmations aren’t always enough. Just like how faith fuels prayer, it is the blood of Jesus that makes manifest the words of our testimony. That is, it is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that releases unto us, the power of God through the Holy Spirit that brings about manifestation. If David did not identify with God, if he lacked the presence of God’s power, his words would have been very much useless and he would have suffered defeat.
Affirmations are great. But for them to manifest, we must identify with the power that brings them to pass. And that’s faith from the word of God through the Holy Ghost.
Faith+blog 