| THE WEAPON OF TESTIMONY Derek Prince HIS GLORY REIGNS B. Childress Nov 14 2008 08:00AM We need to begin by distinguishing between testimony and preaching. Preaching is presenting the truths of God's Word directly, but testimony is "witnessing" or "being a witness." Testimony is speaking from personal experience about incidents that relate to the Word of God and confirm the truth of God's Word. For instance, if we are preaching a message on healing, we preach the principles on which God heals, and we offer His promises of healing. But if we are testifying about healing, we speak about an incident in which we experienced God healing us. So testimony and preaching are both related to the Word of God, but they approach it from different angles. Testimony is basic to Jesus' strategy of reaching the whole world with the Gospel. He unveiled this strategy in His closing words on earth as He stood on the Mount of Olives with His disciples, about to leave them, as found in Acts 1:8:
me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth." We notice, first, that to be effective witnesses for Jesus, we need supernatural power. Our testimony is supernatural. It needs to be backed and enforced by supernatural power, the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not permit His disciples to go out and begin testifying until they had been endued with that power on the day of Pentecost. Second, Jesus did not say, "You will witness," which is what a lot of religious people say today. He said, "You will be... witnesses." In other words, it is not just the words we speak or the tracts that we hand out, but our total lives are to be witnesses to Jesus and the truth of the Gospel. Third, Jesus envisaged an ever-extending circle. He said to start where you are in Jerusalem. Go and tell people. Let them believe, and let them be filled with the Holy Spirit. Then let them go and tell other people. In turn, let them believe, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and go and tell others. He said it would start in Jerusalem, move out to Judea, then to Samaria, and would not cease until it reached the outermost part of the earth. Those were the last words Jesus spoke on earth. His mind and His heart were in the uttermost part of the earth. He would never be satisfied until that had been reached. His basic strategy for reaching it was for all God's people to become witnesses, witnessing to and winning others. Those, in turn, were to witness and win until, like the expanding ripples from stones cast into a pond, they reached the uttermost part of the earth. Looking back on history, when God's people applied this strategy, it worked. Within three hundred years, it had conquered the Roman Empire. I believe that great basic spiritual force that overthrew the pagan Roman Empire was the testimony of thousands and thousands of Christian believers from different backgrounds, races, social levels, and religious persuasions. They all said, "Jesus changed my life!" The impact of this ultimately broke down that stern, strong, cruel empire of Rome. The Bible indicates that the same weapon will ultimately cast down even Satan's kingdom in the heavenlies. This can be seen in prophetic preview in Revelation 12:7-11. These verses describe a great conflict between angels and men that will span both heaven and earth at the close of this age.
his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." Then it describes how the believers will overcome Satan. Notice it is a direct, person-to-person conflict:
lives unto the death." Their main weapon is in that word "testimony." It is their testimony that will ultimately shake down the whole kingdom of Satan. I believe their testimony centers in two things: The Word of God and the blood of Jesus. Their testimony will release the power that is in the Word and the blood. We can apply this in a simple, practical way to ourselves. We overcome Satan when we testify personally to what the Word of God says the blood of Jesus does for us. You can see the importance of bearing personal testimony to the Word and to the blood. There are various ways we can do this. One appointed way is the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist. Sometimes we do not see it in this light, but this is a continuing testimony of our faith in the Word and the blood. Speaking about the Lord's Supper, Paul said in I Corinthians 11:26,
We know the cup represents the blood of the Lord, so in taking the Lord's Supper, we are continually testifying and proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In order to testify effectively to what the Word of God says about the blood of Jesus, we must be familiar with what the Word of God actually tells us about the blood of Jesus. There are five extremely important provisions revealed in God's Word that come to us through the blood of Jesus. First, we find in Ephesians 1:7:
That tells us two things that are provided for us through the blood of Jesus. The first is redemption (we are redeemed). The second is forgiveness (we are forgiven), as shown in I John 1:7:
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Third, the blood cleanses us continually. Through the blood, we have available to us continual spiritual cleansing. Romans 5:9 states,
Fourth, we are justified. That means we are made righteous. The best description I ever heard of what the word justified means is - justified: just-as-if-I'd never sinned. I have been made righteous with a righteousness that knows no sin, which is the righteousness of Christ. Hebrews 13:12 declares the following:
Fifth, the Bible tells us that we can be sanctified through the blood of Jesus. To sanctify means to make holy, or set apart to God. These are the five great provisions of the blood of Jesus revealed by the Word of God:
These provisions only become fully effective in our lives when we testify to them personally. We must be bold enough to state our convictions. We must say it like this:
are forgiven. The blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sins. Through the blood of Jesus, I am justified, made righteous, just as if I'd never sinned. Through the blood of Jesus, I am sanctified, made holy, set apart to God. I am no longer in Satan's territory." Meditate on those five provisions of the blood of Jesus: redemption, forgiveness, cleansing, justification, sanctification. Then grasp the fact that they become effectually yours when you testify to them personally. By testifying to them personally, we overcome Satan "by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of [our] testimony" (Revelation 12:11). To be effective in spiritual warfare, we must continually take the offensive with the weapons God has provided for us. It is not sufficient to merely defend ourselves and wait for the Lord to deliver us. We are an army of conquerors, and the nations of the world are ripe for a people who will conquer them with the Gospel of the kingdom. Source: Spiritual Warfare, by Derek Prince, Copyright 1987, Whitaker House. |
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