Think about the moment that you came to Christ and the way that you felt. Think about where you came from and where you are now. Think about that one time that the Lord was so good to you and brought you from the darkness into the light.
Now have you told anyone that story? Or are you ashamed of who you once were and some of the details?
On the other hand...you might be a little like me. You don't have a crazy story to tell about how God changed your life or a really intense thing that you have been through and you feel like your story isn't significant...I am here to tell you that anything that the Lord does in anyones life is so insanely significant.
I have shared this before...but one time I was meeting with a pastor and he asked me to tell him my story and the first words out of my mouth were along the lines of...'I don't really have anything too big that happened to me that led me to Christ, I grew up in a Christian home and have been a believer since a young age.' He stopped me right away and told me to never be ashamed of that story and that there are so many people out there who would trade their story for that one all day.
My hope with this post today is to encourage you to tell people about your story and how good the Lord has been to you. I guarantee that people will be amazed.
I don't know why we don't do it more...There is no reason to be ashamed about where you came from and where you are now. People will celebrate that!
You see it all the time. Stories about the Lord bringing the people with the craziest past to on fire Christians now. It's absolutely amazing!
I don't know if you have ever heard this story before, but in Mark chapter 5, there was a man that was demon possessed. Jesus was standing off in the distance and the man who was demon possessed ran up to Jesus and fell on his knees.
Long story short, they asked to be released into these pigs and then the man was free from being demon possessed.
When Jesus was leaving after this awesome miracle...
...the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. (Mark 5:18-20)
There are quite a few lessons from this story that we can learn.
The first being that the demon possessed man ran to Jesus and fell on his knees. When was the last time you did that when you were really struggling with something? When was the last time that you really laid your heart out to God and told him that you were done being stuck in the rut?
This man was demon possessed and he had no shame in doing this. Heck, there were portably a lot of people around too and he still had no shame! We should never be ashamed of what sins we have committed or what bad things we have done because Jesus has seen it all and knew that those things were going to happen before we were even born.
The second and final lesson that we can learn is to tell others what Jesus has done in your life to transform you. Jesus clearly told the man to go tell others how much the Lord had done for him. Those direct words came from Jesus's mouth. Those words are meant for everyone.
The man did just that and the people were amazed. They were not focused on the fact that this man used to be demon possessed, they were focused and amazed by the fact that the Lord had mercy on him and saved him.
Finally, don't be afraid to tell your story. Don't be afraid with what you had to go through for Jesus to really change your life. We are all made new and the Lord is so merciful to us. Share your stories. You never know who you might encourage with what you have been through.
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