Gratitude: Sharing Your Testimony

Gratitude: Sharing Your Testimony

by | Jun 27, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“I could sing these songs
As I often do
But every song must end
And You never do”

Gratitude, Brandon Lake

“Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
those he gathered from the lands,
from east and west, from north and south.”

Psalm 107:2-3, NIV

Worship is a response to what the Lord has done, and sometimes even a response to what He might do.

How then do we respond to the Creator, Saviour and Keeper of our souls?

The go to response for many of us is to break out in song and prayer. Today I want to suggest something else.

Our testimonies are a form of worship.

Psalm 107 starts with the words: Give thanks to the Lord!

Give thanks here, or ‘yadah’ in the Hebrew, is to heap thanksgiving and praise upon the Lord – to give Him praise, to worship Him, to lift up our hands and make confession of His goodness, His Glory and His great deeds in the Earth.

The Psalmist then instructs us how to render the fat of our praise unto the Lord.

To praise God is to make His name great amongst the peoples of the world. To make His name great is to go out and share what He has done. “Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story…”

This immediately brings to mind what Jesus told His disciples – “you will be my witnesses!”

Paul regularly shared his testimony with whoever would listen. We see this again and again in the book of Acts and in the Epistles that follow. The other Apostles did the same.

Our testimony is often the greatest form of worship we can give to God because it is the kind of worship that invites others into the fold as well.

True worship is like a flame that beckons others to come (See Psalm 103).

And sometimes it is quite simple – a handful of sentences shared in passing. Sometimes it is longer and full of twists and turns.

Regardless – your testimony has the power to change someone’s life for the better. It is the kind of worship that reproduces and multiplies.

A good place to start is to write down your testimony. Write down the highlights, briefly explore what you were like before you came to Jesus. Secondly, explain what happened – or rather how you came to Jesus. Finally, it is helpful to jot down what your life is like now that you have come to Christ – what change has occurred in your life? How do you feel? How has your situation improved?

Once you have done this it is easy to share the highlights of what God has done in your life with someone else.

Whether you share it with a close friend or an auditorium full of people – the process remains the same.

In this day and age where social media is so accessible you could even consider sharing your written testimony through a post on which ever platforms you use.

Sharing your testimony doesn’t need to be hard. It is actually quite simple – and it is a way to render the fat of your gratitude productively unto the Lord.

Prayer: Lord, help me today to remember You in every conversation and interaction I might have with those around me. Help me tell others of Your goodness and grace. Help me tell others about what it is You have done in my life. Show me the best way to show the world Your love and mercy – and give me the boldness to do so. Give me the boldness to be Your witness in this cold and lonely world. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Joyful, Joyful

Joyful, Joyful

by | May 28, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee
Hail Thee as the sun above
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness
Drive the dark of doubt away
Giver of immortal gladness
Fill us with the light of day”

The Hymn of Joy (Joyful Joyful), Henry van Dyke

“The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,
And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;
It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,
Even with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
The excellency of our God.”

Isaiah 35:1-2, NKJV

The Psalms and the Prophets teach us that God delights in His children (Zephaniah 3:17, Psalm 147:11-12, Psalm 18:19, Isaiah 62:3-5) – even at the very beginning of the world, at the dawn of creation, God looked at what He had created and it was good.

He enjoyed Adam and Eve, in the Garden – He walked with them, and He talked with them. He delighted in them. They delighted in Him.

Past tense.

Delighted.

God’s desire has not changed. He wants to walk with us and talk with us in the Garden of His Presence. He longs for communion with us as a Bridegroom longs for His Bride.

We have been, in many cases, an adulterous Bride. We have, time and time again, strayed… We have been unfaithful.

But His desire has never changed. His love for us has not changed.

It is then no wonder that in Jesus writes to the Church of the last days: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20, NIV)

Repentance is a turning back to God. It is the opening of the door of our hearts to Jesus so that He might come in – that He might come and eat with us, feast with us – that He might come in and make manifest the festivity of His presence. Jesus wants to fill us with Himself – His presence, peace, love and joy!

The Psalmist writes: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart!” (Psalm 37:4)

Our delight and our desire is Jesus, and in pursuing our desire of Him He gives us more of Himself.

The adulterous and idolatrous Bride finds herself, in this current dispensation, in need of a turn – she needs to repent.

We need to repent and turn back to God. We need to open the door and let Him back into our churches.

Why are so many believers dissatisfied and falling away from the Hope of Glory? Why are so many of us still being cast asunder by every new wind of doctrine and philosophy? Why do our hearts still pang, hunger and thirst for more when we have, at hand, the Bread of Heaven and source of Living Water? Why do we still feel so empty, impoverished and lacking when we have, at our disposal, the innumerable and incorruptible riches of His Kingdom?

It is because we have removed Christ from His Christendom.

We have made apostles and prophets the centre of our faith and we have removed the Cornerstone. We have made prosperity, rather than His presence, our priority.

But the Lord says this today: “I stand at the door of your heart and I knock, and if you open up I will come in and feast with you. If you open up I will come in and bring Living Water to the dry places, hope to the desolate places, light to the dark places and life to the barren places of your heart!”

We have been an idolatrous and adulterous Bride. We have set the eyes of our hearts upon material things, quick fixes and promises of temporary power and esteem.

Psalm 147:11: “But the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.”

God is calling us to set our eyes upon Him again. To desire Him. To delight in Him. To enjoy Him.

God is calling us to open up our hearts to Him once again, so that He may shine His face upon us, that our hearts might unfold before Him like flowers hailing the sun above – He wants to melt away the clouds of sin and sadness – drive out darkness and doubt – and restore us! He wants to fill us with the light of day! He wants to make the desert and the wilderness glad again! Blossoming and in bloom – brimming with life in abundance! He wants to move in our midst again!

He desires us. He delights in His children – those who fear and love Him.

He wants to delight in us. He wants us to delight in Him.

And all it takes from us is a yielded yes.

All it takes from us is surrender.

All it takes from us is a turning of our eyes, away from the things of this world and the promises of men, towards Jesus, His Kingdom and the perfect will of God!

All it takes is a decision right now to turn to Him. To open the door and let Him in.

Prayer: Jesus, be my desire. Be my Bread and Water. Be the One Thing I long for above all else. Remove any and all double mindedness from my heart and let me run wholly after You. Let me dwell in Your house forever, my eyes set upon You and You alone. Be the center of all of my coming and going, the center of my life. Be in every breath I take. Jesus, be my desire. Show me what it means to find perfect peace and contentment in You. Through Your Holy Spirit draw me deeper, deeper into prayer and the study of Your Word. Draw me deeper into communion with You. In the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.

House of the Lord

House of the Lord

by | May 27, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“We were the beggars
Now we’re royalty
We were the prisoners
Now we’re running free
We are forgiven, accepted
Redeemed by His grace
Let the house of the Lord sing praise”

House of the Lord, Phil Wickham

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household…”

Ephesians 2:19, NIV

Many of us were, at some stage of our life, foreigners and strangers – outcasts, the odd one out – the black sheep or the one who just didn’t fit.

We all know what it feels like, to varying degrees, to feel out of place.

But the love of Christ calls the lost and wandering from all the corners of the earth to the foot of the cross. “Sinner, oh, sinner, come home!”

The Apostle John writes, in the first Epistle that bears his name: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” (1 John 3:1)

We who were orphans – alone and scattered – now have a home. We now have a family. We are children of God!

There is joy in the House of the Lord – the joy of homecoming.

You might not be celebrated by the world, sometimes you might not even be celebrated by the ones you love – but God rejoices over us with singing! The whole host of heaven comes alive when even just one lost sheep wanders back into the fold!

There is joy in the House of the Lord – the joy of belonging.

Not only do we belong to Him, but we also belong to one another – as Christians we are baptised into the family of God. As His children we belong together – knit together by the love of Christ. As His children we belong to each other – to serve one another in love and compassion.

When we are baptised into the family of God we no longer walk alone. God walks with us, but so do our brothers and our sisters in the Lord. We are there to comfort and console one another, to journey together, to share our burdens – but also to rejoice as one voice, hearts in one accord, to sing the praises of the Lord!

There is joy in the House of the Lord – the joy of identity.

No longer strangers or foreigners, we are now citizens of the Kingdom and children of God. We are the Bride, the Body – the redeemed – we belong to Him!

We have gone from the rags of spiritual poverty to the riches of His grace and mercy, from being beggars to being royalty!

His Name is now written on our hearts – we are His Body, we are His Bride.

Let the House of the Lord rejoice – the whole household of God – the redeemed of the Lord: Let us sing and shout His praise! Let us proclaim the goodness of the One who has called us out of darkness and translated us into the light of His Kingdom – He who has called us as a peculiar people.

You might not fit in anywhere else – but you fit in here! You might feel out of place in the world, but here we belong.

Let the House of the Lord rejoice! And in rejoicing, may we make known the great deeds and the great love of our God! In rejoicing, may we beckon the outcast, the weary and the burdened: ‘Come taste and see that the Lord is good! Come and find yourself in the House of the Lord!”

If you have not yet found the joy of your salvation – if you still have questions, doubts and fears – reach out! It doesn’t matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done – your Father is calling you home!

Reach out by sending an email to andre@adlabuschagne.co.za.

We want to journey with you.

Come and join us in the House of the Lord! Come home!

Prayer: There is joy in the house of the Lord! I thank you for Your love, the same love that called me out of darkness and into Your light! I pray today, Lord that I will remember and be mindful of the joy of my salvation today – and that I will share this joy with those around me in the hopes that many more will come home. Let me be a beacon of Your love and grace. Let me be a safe space. Let me be Your hands and feet on the earth, ready to seek out the lost and embrace the sinner – leading them back to Your heart. In Jesus Name! Amen!

Living Hope

Living Hope

by | May 27, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“How great the chasm that lay between us
How high the mountain I could not climb
In desperation, I turned to heaven
And spoke your name into the night
Then through the darkness
Your loving kindness
Tore through the shadows of my soul
The work is finished, the end is written
Jesus Christ, my living hope”

Living Hope, Phil Wickham

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

1 Peter 1:3-5, NKJV

We are born again through the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead – His resurrection power at work in us – begotten again to a living hope, an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away.

Peter talks about the ‘living hope’ we have in Jesus. “Living’ refers to the fact that it can be experienced – felt, seen, heard – understood by our senses and fathomed by our faculties.

In a lot of contexts ‘hope’ can be a very vague sort of word, implying something that ‘might or might not’ materialize – but that we long for nonetheless. In a lot of cases our definition of ‘hope’ has more to do with desire and wishful thinking.

The word used for ‘hope’ here, in 1 Peter 1:3: is the Greek ‘elpis’ which properly refers to the anticipation or welcoming of something that is sure.

In our culture broken promises seem to be the norm – even in the church. The only thing we seem to be sure of is the fact that we can’t be sure of anything. Our modern culture encourages us to ‘trust no-one’, not even yourself.

But God is not a man that He would lie – every word He speaks can be seen as trustworthy and true.

When we speak about ‘hope’ as believers we are not referring to things clouded by uncertainty – our hope in God, the expectation of our salvation, safety and security in Him – is certain.

We have in Jesus Christ the means to a welcome and joyously expected end and the end in itself. He is the author and the finisher of our faith.

We do not hope for something that might or might not materialize – our hope is not rooted in something we want or need to happen – but rather in what has already taken place, and therefore our hope is sure. Our expectation of His presence, power and providence in our lives will be rewarded, not when it materializes – for it is already done and has been done for at least 2000 years – but when we come to the realization that it is already there for us to experience and enjoy, paid for in full upon the Cross.

We can feel the certitude of His presence through our communion with His Holy Spirit. We can hear the certitude of His providence through the testimonies we share with one another – the record of which spans decades, centuries and millennia. We can see, with absolute certainty, His power at work in our lives and the lives of those around us – and when we do not experience Him through one we will certainly experience Him through another.

Our ‘hope’ – this certainty that Peter talks about – is a living thing. Living things tend to grow, and so it is that our relationship with and experience of God is also a thing that grows towards maturity. As we grow in our relationship with God, so does the ‘hope’ – or certainty – we have in Him. As we grow in our walk with the Lord, so also we grow in feeling, seeing, hearing and knowing – moving from a place in our faith where our hope is sometimes clouded by our thinking and circumstances towards a more mature faith and the certainty that Peter encourages us to have, this ‘elpis’ that he talks about, the anticipation and welcoming of the fulfillment of the promise of His presence, power and providence in our lives.

Prayer: Lord, let me see You more clearly. Let me feel You, closer than ever before. Let me be more mindful of the testimonies You are writing in my life. Let me be more aware of Your presence, power and providence so that I might grow in ‘hope’ – anticipating and welcoming the everyday fulfillment of Your promises in Jesus Name. Amen.

Sing We The Song of Emmanuel

Sing We The Song of Emmanuel

by | May 27, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“Go spread the news of Emmanuel
Joy and peace for the weary heart
Lift up your heads, for your King has come
Sing for the Light overwhelms the dark
Glory shining for all to see
Hope alive, let the gospel ring
God has made a way, He will have the praise
Tell the world His name is Jesus”

Sing We The Song of Emmanuel, Stuart Townend

Jesus said to his followers, “Go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone.”

Mark 16:15, NCV

I remember, as a teenager, long before the internet served to satisfy our music listening needs – before YouTube, Shazam and Spotify even existed – you would dedicate some very real time and resources to finding and owning copies of the music you liked. Sometimes it would take some very real effort tracking down a particular album, or even just the single.

Sometimes you wouldn’t even have the name of the song or the artist you were looking for, except for a vague description of whatever you could remember of its content or composition.

And so it is with the Gospel.

Deep down the world knows that there is something missing – deep down the world knows that it is looking to fill a gigantic God shaped-hole – but they don’t know The Name.

They only have the vaguest descriptions of what they are looking for – hope, healing, restoration, redemption, salvation, freedom… But they don’t know The Name.

Sometimes you would get lucky and would hear someone playing the song that eluded you, perhaps it would be playing on your local radio station and the DJ would mention the name and artist. Other times you could ask a friend or a friendly shop assistant and find what you were looking for.

Jesus made it very clear that, along with the power of His Kingdom, there was also a great responsibility on the part of every believer to go into the world and preach the Gospel.

The love of Christ compels us to go seeking after the sinner – to proclaim the good news of the Gospel, proclaiming freedom to the slave and liberty to the captive.

Once you have found the Song superior to all songs you cannot help but share it with the world.

The love of Christ compels us to sing the Song of Emmanuel – loud and from every rooftop.

Once you have heard that secret, sacred Song, emanating from God’s heart to yours, you can’t help but be transformed as it fills every nook and cranny of your soul, bouncing off every wall, and echoing in the deepest depths of your being – “Jesus loves me!”

Just like any good song gets stuck in your head, begging to be sung or hummed, how much more the Song of our Savior – it compels us to sing! As it floods our hearts and lives with the goodness of God it cannot help but overflow out into the world around us.

Jesus commissioned us to go and preach the Gospel to every creature – to share the Good News with the world… to go forth and sing the Song of Emmanuel, to let the Gospel ring, His glory shining for all to see!

The world knows it is missing something – it tries so hard to fill that hole with sex, drugs and rock’n’roll… With philosophy, politics and any number of other things…

They know they are looking for something… but they don’t know The Name.

Sing we the song of Emmanuel?

Prayer: Lord, let my every step and my every breath sing the Song of Your love and mercy. Let my heart be in tune with the Song of Heaven – the story of Your mercy and grace here in our midst. Let me be Your witness, let the Gospel ring and resonate in and through my life – and may the broken and the lost find what they are looking for through the word of my testimony and Your Spirit living and active in me. In Jesus Name. Amen.