Personal stories are so powerful; particularly if they speak of dramatic turn-arounds in peoples’ lives.
Jesus had the crowds hanging off His every word. It wasn’t just that His words were Spirit-filled words of life, but that He used the every day circumstances of life to illustrate profound truths about the Kingdom of God. He was (and is) the greatest story-teller!
Testimonies
When someone gives their “testimony” – a witness to what God has done in their life – we are excited to hear that personal story. It brings faith and encouragement to us, too. I wrote a poem in 2020 called “For Such a Time as This”. It was inspired by the way that the story of Lazarus in The Bible continues to reverberate down the thousands of years between us and him and his two sisters, Martha and Mary. But in my poem the story of being divinely called out of the grave has a resonance for revival of a greater kind. God’s people being raised to new life for a new season. The end of this poem actually leads into another poem called Royal Justice…to be shared another time!
For Such a Time as This For such a time as this, You stretch out Your sceptred hand And with a great and mighty roar, You speak into this land You’re speaking truth and justice, You’re calling time on death You’re calling hearts to turn around, to speak life to the breath The breath that You alone can give, Your people raised from sleep To see the newness that You bring, stirring something deep Within their souls and spirits, as they come alive in You Oh I remember Lazarus. Lord, is this really true! Take off the grave clothes, set him free, he needs to live on here Lazarus will die again, but that time is not yet near I’ve breathed My Spirit into him for life and joy and peace And He will tell my precious ones about his sweet release To give them hope, to raise them up, to glorify My Name Mary, Martha, Lazarus will never be the same And by their testimony true My power will be revealed The power that only for a while has had to be concealed For visions wait appointed times and they will surely come The timing is the Father’s yet given to the Son And given to those here on earth, with ears that they can hear The sound of Royal Justice. His timing draws now near.
Timing
God’s timing is perfect. Jesus didn’t go straight to Bethany when He heard that Lazarus was sick. He knew that Lazarus was going to die, but Jesus always obeyed His Father’s timing. He knew that in letting Lazarus die, a far greater miracle and demonstration of God’s glory was going to take place. What testimonies were going to be given by Lazarus, Mary and Martha and the other mourners at the grave when Jesus called the corpse to life! A story that would take people’s breath away!
Lee’s Story
For those of you who follow this blog (and please share it if you enjoy reading it – just send someone the website link www.poems-and-reflections.com) you will know that we went out in our caravan in February seeking stories of hope and revival to be an encouragement to God’s people. We’ve already published 3 videos and now we’ve completed the fourth. This story is told by Lee, who was addicted to drugs and on a path of destruction before he was rescued by God and brought into His family. Here’s the link:
The Bakery 