PSALM 40:1-3 – I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.”

Personal testimonies of the Lord’s work in our lives are powerful.  They give credible evidence of the reality of God the Father in His love and goodness, of God the Son and His atoning work in the Gospel, and of God the Spirit in His transforming power.  A fine example was the conversion of the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus.  Take time and read Paul sharing his testimony in the book of Acts.  First is his conversion itself detailed in Acts 9.  Then in Acts 22, he proclaims to the Jerusalem crowd how the Lord changed him.  A final account is Paul sharing his testimony to King Agrippa in Acts 26.

What is common in all three accounts?  The emphasis.  It wasn’t all about Paul.  Nor was it an overemphasis on his sin.  The commonality and priority in the great Christian’s testimony was the work and Person of the Lord.  And that is to mark our testimonies of the Lord too.

Too often testimonies of well-intended Christians draw attention upon themselves and not the Lord Jesus.  When this happens, discouragement, not encouragement happens.  Everything about the Christian life including the work it is doing in and through our lives must be the Lord. He is the center. He is the priority. He is the focal point.  Everything God does is for His glory first and foremost.   Evaluate our sharing with people our testimonies.  Do we draw more attention to ourselves than the Lord?  Are we more prone to use the pronouns “I” and “me” more than Him?  If so, evaluate and correct how we share the Lord. It is all about Him and nothing about us

In today’s scripture, David gives us a wonderful example of the Lord working in his life and who it was directed to for influence and emphasis.  The Psalmist begins with what he did in verse one – he prayed (implied with the words ‘my cry’) and then he waited on the Lord. Not much emphasis on himself. And what happens in verses two and three is all about what the Lord did – He brought me up out of a horrible pit, set my feet upon a rock, established my steps, and put a new song in my mouth.  What a proper imbalance!!  But pay attention to who gets influenced by the work of the Lord in David’s life – Many will see it and fear and will trust in the Lord. Others. And that is how our testimonies are to be shared and whom they are to influence.

Let’s make sure as we share the Lord with others, we get the proper imbalance – more of Him, less of us and when we do, watch how the Lord influences others for Him through us, not because of us.

PRAYER: “Father, let me understand the work You do in me is to draw attention to You, not me.”

QUOTE: “The most difficult battle we face in the Christian life is to daily live for Him, not ourselves.”