| But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you … |
| —from Acts 1:8 |
The testimony of someone who has experienced a particular event has great power to provide insight, information, and understanding. The best way to encourage someone to consider a thought or idea is to have a person who has benefitted from that thought or idea share how that thought or idea has impacted his or her life in a positive way.
But, even when something has had a profound influence on their sense of well-being, most people are very reluctant to tell others about what they’ve experienced. This naural shyness about witnessing to the truth of what has happened in one’s own life comes from a sense of maintaining personal privacy, or from a sense that a person does not want others to think ill of them because of what they have shared, or from a sense that one will not have adequate skill to creatively explain what a person has experienced.
The antidote to this innate shyness about witnessing is a special power given specifically for the purpose of overcoming that shyness. This is what Jesus was explaining to His disciples, as recorded by Dr. Luke in Acts 1:8:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
As we begin another new day, we should spend a moment thinking about the many wonderful ways our relationship with God has positively impacted our lives. Perhaps we should even make a list of all the things that have made our lives better since we responded to God’s call to come and follow Him.
With that list in hand, we should then ask God to open up opportunities for us to share how wonderful our lives have become since we accepted His gift of divine mercy, grace, and love. Then, as God brings people across the pathway of our lives, we should gently, tenderly, and with humility share with them the wonders and amazement that we have experienced from this God who loves us with His unfailing, undying love.
