Testimony

Joshua 4:20-24

Then Joshua set up in Gilgal the 12 stones they had taken from the Jordan, and he said to the Israelites, “When your children ask their fathers in the future, ‘What is the meaning of these stones?’ you should tell your children, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground. For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea which He dried up before us until we had crossed over. This is so that all the people of the earth may know that the LORD’s hand is mighty, and so that you may always fear the LORD your God.'”

Before the Israelites who had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years could enter the Promised Land, God had to work some miracles. He parted the Red Sea so they could flee Egypt and enter the wilderness, and He dried up the waters of the Jordan for them to exit the wilderness and make entrance into the land they were to take. On each side of their wilderness experience, they experienced a miracle where God moved the water on their behalf and allowed them to walk across on dry ground. 

Upon exiting the wilderness, God instructed Joshua to take 12 stones and set them up as a memorial so future generations would know the mighty work God did to deliver His people. These 12 stones were a testimony to the grace and the power of God. They served as evidence that God was with His people and actively working on their behalf. If He intervened for them then, He could intervene for them in the future. He can intervene for us now. 

A testimony serves as evidence to the character and acts of a person or to the factual occurrence of an event. A true testimony is not an opinion but the witness of a fact. 2 Corinthians 13:1 repeats a part of the law given by Moses that out of the mouths of two or three witnesses shall a matter be established. They were not to take an accusation alone as truth but were to look for testimonies or evidence which could corroborate that truth. These 12 stones that came from the bottom of the Jordan River were hard core evidence that God had worked a miracle for His people. When children of future generations asked about the stones, the people were to give testimony to the power of God in what He did to deliver them. 

Where has God worked miracles for you, and is there evidence to support it? Your testimony to His grace and power is the proof this generation needs to believe there is a God and that He really does love His people and still works miracles. Revelation 12:11 tells us that God’s people overcome the evil one – the Anti-Christ – by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Isaiah 43:10 assures us that we are God’s witnesses and His chosen servant to know and believe and understand that He alone is God. As His witnesses, we will see Him move and act, doing things we could never accomplish on our own. We will have testimonies of miracles, and we are not to be quiet about them.

Do you need a miracle today? Has someone experienced the kind of miracle you need? If so, then that testimony is hope that God will act in the same way again for you. Ask Him to do the same thing for you. God is no respecter of persons, and what He did for one, He can do again for another. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The power of the personal testimony is a bridge to hope and faith for someone who needs the same miracle. Look for a bridge if you need a miracle; build one for someone else who needs one. 

Have a blessed day!