Carry On!

 

Who should dictate the time and place of your testimony?

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John 5:10 – The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.

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Are you a Christian?  Has Jesus redeemed you from the curse of the law?  Have you been made a new creature in Christ Jesus?  Of course, all three questions are really the same, just stated in different terms.  If your answer is “yes,” then to whom do you belong?  You are no longer owned by Satan, sin, or sickness.  Neither do you belong to yourself.  In fact, you’ve NEVER belonged to yourself.  From birth you belong to your parents.  From birth until you reached a personal age of accountability, you were the Lord’s.  From that point until you were born again, you belonged to your spiritual father, Satan.  And from the point of the new birth until this current moment, you belong to Jesus.  So you see, you’ve never really belonged to yourself; always to someone else.  Yet how many people in the earth today see themselves as “their own person?”  I have found that my life is so much more peaceful, blessed, and enriched when I hold fast to the truth that I belong to the Lord, that He is MY Lord, and that He (either as Father, Son, or Holy Spirit) is my Savior, Healer, Provider, Deliverer, Teacher, Leader, Guide, Comforter, and so much more.  There are surely times when knowing I belong wholly to Him that I am greatly comforted in full realization that He will take care of me if I will only trust Him.

That being said, I make two additional statements.  Since Jesus is my Lord, He is IN CHARGE of my life.  And since it is by faith AND by purpose that I serve Him, I must accept responsibility that I am IN CONTROL of my life.  God NEVER forces me to do anything. That is a demonstration of His love for me.  I follow, obey, and keep His commandments because I CHOOSE to do so.  That is a demonstration of my love for Him.  And since He is IN CHARGE, it becomes my responsibility to do His will, and that includes offering forth my testimony whenever and wherever He wills and instructs.  I must also remember that my testimony is not always in words.  I may be in a place where I must not speak, but the life I live speaksALL THE TIME.  It speaks TO all, AT all times, IN every place, and that without exception.  In our Text for Today, the man carrying his bed was his testimony.  Was it lawful for him to testify of God’s work on the Sabbath?  Yes.  Therefor carrying his bed was lawful, for it was his testimony.  When you control that which formerly controlled you, you are carrying your testimony.  Carry on! 

Manna for Today – John 5:1-17; Galatians 5:22-23; Romans 8:14; John 16:13; 1 John 5:3; John 14:15

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