How To Give A Testimony Using This Simple Model From The Psalms

“… the Psalms provided the pattern for people to express their own thanksgiving, and the structure … is not complicated. The opening declaration (“I will give thanks to the Lord”) contains the reason for the praise (“because he is faithful”); then there is a report of the dilemma that was faced (“I was surrounded by enemies”) and the deliverance (“he heard my prayer” and “he delivered me”); this is followed by the full declaration of praise (“God is faithful to those who love him”); and finally, the conclusion offers a word of encouragement to others (“Seek the LORD while he may be found”). It is not difficult to train folks to construct their own thanksgiving with such a pattern.”

— Recalling The Hope Of Glory, Allen P. Ross

Many people feel uncomfortable giving a testimony. They say, “The minute I open my mouth, I forget what to say. I either ramble on for too long or I don’t say anything. Teach them how to give an effective but short testimony using the psalmic template described above. For example:

• Opening declaration: “I want to thank the Lord today”
• Reason for the praise: “He is so good to me.”
• Dilemma that was faced: “I had open heart surgery to unblock three arteries.”
• Deliverance: “God guided the hand of the doctor. It was a long surgery but I came through.”
• Full declaration of praise: “God has kept me all these years. He’s prolonged my days here, and I want to use whatever time I have left to magnify His name.
• Word of encouragement: “Don’t waste your life on foolish things. You don’t know how much time you have. Seek the Lord’s will for your life, and tell everyone you know about Him.

Writing As A Means of Grace

While Kristen and Bobby take some time away from blogging, several guest bloggers will appear here at MySongInTheNight.com. Today, welcome Katina French, a Sojourn Church member. Katina is a fiction writer, and the Operations Manager at Social Media Explorer.

Recently, in reference to a sermon on Titus 2, our Community Group leader asked, “In what ways has grace made it possible to say ‘no’ to ungodliness and live self-controlled, godly lives in this present age?” For me personally, writing has been a means of this kind of grace.

Right now, I’m keeping a private journal, consisting of 2-3 pages of free writing each day. I’ve kept similar journals off and on for most of my life. This private writing is a place where I strive to be fully honest about where I am mentally, emotionally and spiritually. This kind of writing serves a number of purposes. As a writer, it keeps the words flowing. Often, we get blocked because of the things we’re not saying. Self-censorship becomes writer’s block. Having a safe place to wrestle with dark or difficult thoughts keeps those unspoken words from calcifying into a block.

As a Christian, this daily writing practice also serves as a mirror. One of my favorite books is C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces. The main character, Queen Orual, writes a book that is her “complaint against the gods.” In writing her life’s story, she sees her life from a slightly removed perspective. She comes face to face with her own inconsistencies, selfishness and sin, glaring from the pages, and is humbled and repentant.

James 1:23-25 tells us that if we only hear the Word, and don’t take action on it, we’re like foolish men and women who look in a mirror and immediately forget what we look like. A daily, private journal can be one way to capture that image, so we have a clear reminder of our own need for grace and forgiveness. It helps us keep our self-image grounded in reality, instead of seeing ourselves through rose-colored glasses. The knowledge that what you do today will likely show up in your journal tomorrow can also help provide accountability. Studies show that people who journal what they eat make better nutritional choices. Keeping a journal of your daily life can have a similar effect, giving the Spirit an additional means of conviction.

It can also be a source of encouragement. Sanctification is a glacial process. Looking back at old journals, I am often encouraged to see changes the Spirit has brought about that are impossible to see without the perspective of time. I can see answered prayers I’ve long since forgotten, and be reminded of friends who God brought into my life for only a season. I can see trials that are now long over that seemed endless at the time, and see how fleeting and transient even my most turbulent emotions are.

Writing also allows me to minister to others. In writing, I can express myself more clearly. I can take the time to consider my words more carefully. I can look up scriptures to make sure what I’m sharing is consistent and biblical. Writing helps me organize my thoughts on those occasions when someone asks me for advice or counsel as a sister in Christ. Since the time of the epistles, the church has used personal writing and correspondence as a means of sharing the gospel and encouraging each other.

Recently, poet Dave Harrity of Antler lead a number of members of Sojourn in a creative writing retreat. We looked at the different ways that Christian writers, poets and creatives can worship through our writing. Writing as worship, according to Harrity, is honest, whether that honesty is reflecting praise or lament. It expresses awe in the face of the divine, and bears witness to the world as it is: created good, fallen, and in the process of being redeemed.

Writing can be a means of grace in many ways. It’s provided me with rewarding work, material provision, and brought new people into my life I wouldn’t have otherwise met. It’s given many Christian writers, poets and songwriters the joy of imitating our heavenly Father through expressing creativity.

• How has writing been a means of grace for you?
• In what ways have you responded to this grace?
• What do you value more: private writing, public writing, or personal writing (such as private correspondence)?

Wings photo above courtesy Anatoli Styf.

Follow Kat French on Twitter (@katfrench)

5 Foolish Reasons Why You Aren’t Sharing Your Christians Testimony

On our How To Write A Christian Testimony page, we quote Charles Spurgeon, who uses the phrase “singing in the night” as a metaphor for giving your testimony:

“Try and sing in the night, Christian, for that is one of the best arguments in the entire world in favor of your religion … I tell you, we may preach fifty thousand sermons to prove the gospel, but we will not prove it half as well as you will by singing in the night.”

Why then would we refrain from testifying of God’s goodness and grace in our lives? If you’re guilty of this — as we all are at some point — examine your heart to see which of these five reasons might be the culprit, and ask God to help you overcome by the power of His Spirit:

1. Your Fear Of Man Is Greater Than Your Fear Of God

Most of us struggle with the fear of rejection. We don’t want anyone to turn away from us, to insult us, to make us feel small or foolish. But Jesus says:

So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. — Matthew 10:32-33

Fear of man is a problem for many of us. But the true disciple of Christ will ask for strength from Christ’s Spirit to overcome this. We know that God has saved us from a worse fate (hell) than anything that man could do to us — certainly worse than being mocked, ridiculed or ignored.

2. You Think Your Testimony Is Boring

As our pastor Daniel Montgomery says:

Social Media Tips For Those Being Baptized

At Sojourn Community Church, we hold a “Baptism Sunday” every other month. We treat baptisms as huge celebrations, where the baptismal candidates share their written testimonies (we provide tips for writing a testimony) and where everyone in attendance participates by raising their right hand and saying the baptismal proclamation aloud, then cheering as the new believer comes out of the water.

These services are good evangelistic opportunities, because the baptismal candidates often bring family and friends who may not otherwise be willing to attend a worship service. With that in mind, we’ve developed some social media tips for baptismal candidates who are active on social media. You could easily adapt these social media tips for baby dedication services, ordination services and church planting/ missionary sending services as well. Feel free to use this within your own church family:

Social Media For Baptismal Candidates

A public baptism service is perhaps the easiest, clearest and most visually-stimulating way to share your newfound faith with a large number of people, all at once. We encourage you to invite everyone in your life.

Celebrate with all the Christians you know and share with those who have not come to Christ.   Both the Christians and non-Christians in your life likely include friends, neighbors, family members, coworkers or fellow students.

Celebrate with Christians because we are brothers and sisters together in God’s family. We journey through life together, hold each other accountable, lean on each other and draw strength and wisdom from each other.

Share with non-Christians because Jesus put us on mission to do so. He calls us to testify of the grace that saved us, to warn others of the coming Judgment, and to tell our story so they can get a glimpse of the hope that now resides in our hearts.

Social Media Tips:

If you are on Facebook, Twitter and/or another social media network, treat this for what it is: a huge event. A party. A compelling drama of death, burial and resurrection.

• Update your social network status periodically in the weeks and days leading to your Baptism Sunday. Tell those in your network

Who Is The Main Character In Your Story?

Whenever you tell your story, whether in a conversation, a song, written testimony, a speech or sermon, remember this:

“When we submit our lives to what we read in Scripture, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but our stories in God’s. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.” — Eugene Peterson

• Do you see your story in the larger context and plot of the whole, big story of God?
• How can our songs, church communication and liturgical art communicate that God is the main character in life’s grand story?

“Good News Cross” image by Sojourn visual artist Brittany Colyer, woven from newspapers and placed over a colorful floral background.

Social Media Advice For Your Kids

My boss, Sojourn Lead Pastor Daniel Montgomery, recently gave a talk to Christian teens at a Louisville school. Part of his talk centered on the use of Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and other social media outlets by teenagers. Daniel, me and all the Sojourn Communications team kicked around some ideas, and came up with four principles for teens who use social media.

Obviously this advice is an open-handed issue — we wouldn’t dream of becoming legalistic about something like this. But we believe these four tips are good advice for teenagers to follow as they use social media. I’ve encouraged my own children in this area, and I think it would be helpful for your kids and your church youth groups. For that matter, these Christian social media principles are good guidelines for all of us:

Principle 1: Be Real. Because You Are

We have this tendency to lower standards and inhibitions online – to act like that’s just “virtual reality.” News flash:

Who you are online is who you are. What you say online is what you say.

Every command, every standard God expects in your face-to-face dealing with people is what God expects when you’re dealing with people online.

• Do unto others online as you would have them do unto you (online or off).
• Forgive others online as Christ forgave everything you’ve done (online and off).

Principle 2: Think About

Testimony Tip: Your Church’s Weddings As Storytelling Opportunities

We all got a good laugh at Bobby's "She's totally hot" line in his story

Bobby and I had the opportunity to share part of our story at our wedding, just before making our marriage vows. Our worship pastor Mike Cosper asked us to each briefly describe how we met and then list five things that we love about each other. Bobby and I wrote and submitted our stories separately so that we each heard the other’s story for the first time during our wedding ceremony.

Our motto at My Song In The Night is “Helping you express words of worship and testimony through songs and stories” because words are important (James 3). And not a single day has passed (since Bobby asked me to be his gal) without him overwhelming me with beautiful words of affirmation and thankfulness for God’s grace to him in letting me be his wife.

If you’re a pastor or anyone who officiates weddings, I invite you to use this brief testimony as a template, and ask your groom and bride to write something of similar length to incorporate into their ceremony. It will bless their guests, each other, and you. And if you’re married, I invite you to use this as a template for celebrating each other on Valentine’s Day, birthdays or any day. Never forget the importance of telling and re-telling your story to each other:

Hebrews, Psalm 40 and Perfect Redemption

Sasha Cohen slips and falls while performing her free skate routine at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Wash., Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Anyone who has ever wanted to be perfect, in any way, at anything, please raise your hand.

My hand’s up. We have all longed to be perfect but imperfection plagues us.

And it’s a big reason why we hesitate to tell our redemption stories. We’ve been hauled out of the pit of despair and set upon a rock, yet we continue to struggle with sin because we are imperfect. But our imperfections should be the reason we DO tell our redemption stories, which portray the contrast of our flawed sinfulness with the perfect, sinless beauty of Christ and His perfect, beautiful work of making us perfect. This allows for the most audaciously beautiful display of Christ in our lives. He is what our stories of redemption are all about.

I’ve been meditating on Psalm 40 for the past three weeks because the entire psalm tells a story we can relate to, if we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ.

David begins by telling us how he was in a pit of despair and patiently waiting for the Lord to hear his desperate cry. Then, the Lord turned to him and heard his cry and reached down and pulled him out of the miry pit. He set David’s feet upon the rock and made his steps secure. And then He gave David a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to God.

Why? So that many others would see what the Lord had done for David and they would fear the Lord and also put their trust in Him.

But David doesn’t stop there in telling his story. “Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things You planned for us. None can compare with You; were I to speak and tell of Your deeds, they would be too many to declare.” At first glance, we may think he’s referring back to his rescue from the pit.

But then the Holy Spirit surprises us

New Year’s Resolution For Christians: Resolve To Own Your Shame

“Shame thrives on hiding. To be discovered is to be rejected.”

Ian Morgan Cron said these words on the Refuge SSI Retreat Kristen and I attended. Ian is a pastor, author and singer-songwriter. In his latest book “Jesus, My Father, The Cia, and Me” he details the shame and rejection he felt and feared, as the son of an alcoholic father (who, it turns out, also worked undercover for the CIA).

Resolve to tell your story of redemption in 2012 — warts and all. Because Christ is Lord of (warts and) all. God uses your testimony to share His love and spread His kingdom. If only you don’t let shame rob you — and the kingdom — of your story. As Ian went on to explain at Refuge SSI:

“You’ll do anything to hide shame because of fear of rejection. You won’t tell your story.

• You’ll minimalize it (‘it wasn’t really so bad …’)
• You’ll spiritualize it (‘the Lord was teaching me,’ and other generalities)
• You’ll edit, revise, numb the wound, become a perfectionist to compensate

Testimony Turned Inward: Why You Need Notes To Self

Here at My Song In The Night we talk a lot about the importance of your story, your testimony, your description of how God has revealed himself to you, shown you who he is, demonstrated your wretched state and redeemed you from it, plotting a new course for you that brings you into his family forever.

But what about the need to testify to yourself and preach the gospel to yourself? We often forget our own place in the story. We need to remind ourselves of who God is and what he has done. We need to remember, to dwell afresh on the wonders of the gospel.

My friend Joe Thorn, pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in St. Charles, Illinois wrote one of my favorite books of this year, Note To Self: The Discipline Of Preaching To Yourself. And Joe himself provides a great reason why preaching the gospel to yourself is an important part of your life as a testifier of truth, in his Introduction:

“This personal, devotional work is essential to our own health, but also to our effectiveness in sharing the law and the gospel with others. The more deeply we understand and experience law and gospel, the more capable we become in communicating and applying it to those around us. A good teacher or evangelist is first a good preacher to himself.

You could read this 136-page book in a day. You could also read each of its 48 short chapters individually — a chapter a day, or week — as a devotional guide. It’s small enough to fit in the smallest pack, purse or briefcase and take with you to work, school, the park, coffeeshop or wherever you go to read.

Pastor Joe has divided Note To Self into three Parts:

1. The Gospel and God
2. The Gospel and Others
3. The Gospel and You

and titled his chapters with simple, helpful “action list” items, like:

• Be Humble In Your Theology
• Stop Pretending