Honor The Testimonies

Honor the Testimonies

If the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Judges 6:13

BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE. . . . Thousands prayed for her, yet she still died. . . . That man’s ministry has seen many miracles, yet his own son is sick. . . . Somewhere behind the scenes of our faith is this running commentary on whatever faith has not accomplished—what God has not done, answers that have not come, disappointments the faithful have experienced. Though God has often done wonderful, powerful works in response to prayer, the exceptions seem to ring truer. They undermine our faith.

These are counter-testimonies, enemies of faith, the stories of worst-case scenarios, the echoes of “yes, but” that seem to grow louder the closer we come to pure faith. When we entertain them, our faith weakens. Testimonies of what God has done carry great power because they bring his past goodness into the present, stir up our faith, and prophesy of possibilities to come. When we focus on testimonies of his goodness, we grow more confident in asking. But the human mind and influences of darkness come against such testimonies because they don’t pass the test of empirical data. They don’t happen one hundred percent of the time. The counter-testimonies destroy our confidence, convince us our circumstances will be among the exceptions, and turn our prayers into wishful thinking.

Whatever it takes, don’t let that happen. Insist on God’s goodness, regardless of what visible evidence seems to suggest. Whatever you steep your thoughts in is generally what you are most likely to experience. So if you’re steeping your thoughts in the exceptions or the problems or the counter-testimonies of what God hasn’t done, you are much less likely to experience the answer to your prayers. Your faith—in this case, a negative kind of faith in non-answers—may very well be rewarded, to your disappointment. The faith God is looking for is always based on who he is and what he has done. Honoring testimonies of his answers multiplies them in our own lives. Steep your thoughts in them, and your faith—true Kingdom faith—will cultivate a life full of God’s answers.

The ringing testimony of the Christian faith is that God is able.