You’re reading ACTS: LESSONS IN FAITH, by Eric Elder, featuring thirty inspiring devotionals based on the lives of the very first followers of Christ. Also available in paperback and eBook formats in our bookstore for a donation of any size!

Scripture Reading: Acts 22

Has God touched your life in a special way?  If so, that’s part of your testimony―and God loves it when you testify to others about what He has done for you.

But I also know it can be hard to share your testimony.  When I first put my faith in Christ, I was asked to share my testimony with my singles class at church.  “No way,” I thought!  It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk about what God had done, but I didn’t want to talk about what I had done.  I was way too embarrassed to talk about the sin from which God had delivered me.

Yet over the years, as I’ve shared my testimony with more and more people, I’ve seen God give hope, encouragement and eternal life to others.  Some people who hear my story are encouraged because they’ve struggled with some of the same things with which I’ve struggled.  Others are encouraged because they realize that the God who could deliver me from the depths of my sin can deliver them from the depths of theirs.

The Apostle Paul had a lot of good reasons not to share his testimony with others.  Not only did he have to share some difficult things about himself personally, but he also faced the real possibility of being killed every time he shared it.  While Paul could have been afraid for his life, he wasn’t afraid to testify about what Christ had done for him.  As a result, he brought encouragement and eternal life to many.

When Paul’s friends warned him not to go to Jerusalem because he might be bound and possibly killed, Paul went anyway, regardless of the outcome to his own life.  Starting with the very first day he was bound in Jerusalem, look at how many times Paul was able to share his testimony:

• Paul testified to the crowd in Jerusalem (Acts 22:1-21),
• he testified to the chief priests and religious leaders in Jerusalem (Acts 23:1-10),
• he testified to Governor Felix in Caesarea (Acts 24:1-26),
• he testified to Governor Festus and King Agrippa in Caesarea (Acts 26:1-32),
• and he testified to the people in Rome while awaiting to testify to Caesar (Acts 28:28-31).

Paul could have been killed for his testimony, but he wanted to use every opportunity he could to share this new life he had found with others.

One of the things that helped me overcome the fear of sharing my testimony was to stand in the middle of a cemetery and think about what it meant from an eternal perspective.  In the end, what did it matter if I lost my pride―or even my life―by sharing my testimony?  If God could use it to do for others what He had done for me, it would be worth it.

That perspective has given me a tremendous freedom to be able to share my testimony when God wants me to share it.  I’m still careful and prayerful about it, but my focus now is more on how it will affect those who hear it than on how it will affect me.  Even Jesus spoke about the importance of timing when He told His disciples, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear” (John 16:12).  We still need to be in tune with what our listeners need to hear.

But whatever the timing, know that the words of your testimony are like gold to God and that they have tremendous power.  The Bible says:

“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Revelation 12:11). 

It’s by the blood of the Lamb―Jesus―and by the word of your testimony that you can overcome Satan.  When you share your testimony, you can give hope, comfort peace, strength, encouragement and life to those who are losing theirs.

What has God done for you that could bring hope and eternal life to others?  Reread Paul’s simple testimony in Acts 22, then consider sharing your testimony with others, too.

Prayer: Father, give me the faith to share my testimony with others.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.