The scriptures tells us about the attempt by the man, who was delivered from the legion of demons to follow Jesus.
It says:
“Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.”
Mark 5:19-20 KJV
I have often seen people who had received salvation, healing and deliverances from the Lord; but who just decided to get too comfortable or familiar with their supernatural encounters.
Many of them often become so complacent with the great things, that God did in their lives. They do have testimonies; but they are not using those testimonies to build themselves up spiritually. They have become too cozy with their abundance of testimonies, to the extent that they are no more fruitful in the things of God’s Kingdom.
Jesus once said:
“… For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”
Luke 12:48b NKJV
Don’t quench the fire of God
The fire of God in them is gradually being extinguished, due to the lack of the kindling through their testimonies, to keep the fire in them ablaze for Jesus.
Whenever believers in Christ are not being encouraged to share their testimonies, the fire of God in them dwindles. The result is that souls will not get saved; as the unbelievers need these testimonies to motivate them in giving their lives to Jesus.
Sometimes the preaching of the word is never enough to get souls saved. The testimonies of other believers does a lot more in stirring, the heart of the doubters and unbelievers towards Christ.
Jesus challenged the man who was delivered in the above scripture texts, not to become too comfortable with his supernatural experience. The man never heard the word being taught by Jesus; but he got a miracle and wanted to join the crowd that was following Jesus. Many in the crowd were following Jesus for their own selfish reasons. As Jesus told them:
“.. Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”
John 6:26 NIV
Many in this crowd following Jesus had been saved, healed and delivered. But they had allowed their closeness and familiarity with the miracles of Jesus, to quench the fire of God in them.
Now they just love to hang around Him, because they had discovered that it was easier to believe God for anything, than to live by the rules and traditions of their leaders in the Synagogues. Apart from this following Jesus guaranteed them their daily free loaves of bread. They were not living by their own faith; but literally living off the faith of Jesus.
And there are many in Churches today around the world, who had tasted of the goodness of God, but who are not using what they had received to bless others, by testifying about their experiences with Jesus.
The man who got delivered from the legion of demons had so much fire in him. Jesus was not going to allow him to mix up with the crowd, and mess up his testimony. He told him to move on and declare the great things, that he had experienced to his friends.
Whatever we declare about our encounters with the God, who has done great things for us; will manifest into greater things. And whatever is manifested through those testimonies, will follow us everywhere we go, to increase our harvest of souls and testimonies of Jesus. This was exactly what happened to this man.
Sharing of testimonies increases your harvest
The result was that the man actually took the good news into the Decapolis (or ten big cities), that had prior knowledge about his past situations in life. His testimony about the great things of God in his life, brought a revival into those ten great cities.
Now that was a huge landmass of area in mileage, for one man with the testimony of Jesus to cover. This man did more than what Jonah did at Nineveh. And his name never even got recorded in scriptures. But the heavens surely has a record of him.
The man was never alone. He had the words of Jesus with him, to go and talk about the great things in his life. And that’s all that he needed. He didn’t need anything or anyone else to assist him. He simply obeyed Jesus, by acting on His word of command. If others would had gone with him into these ten cities, they actually would had polluted his testimony about Jesus for him.
One man’s testimony about what Jesus had done for him changed ten big cities. He never had to first follow Jesus to be discipled, before doing what Jesus commanded him to do. He just went ahead declaring his testimony. He went ahead sharing the story about the change in his life.
That was all he needed to do in obeying Jesus. He never had to figure out if it was okay for him, to do what Jesus commanded him to do. His act of obedience yielded a great harvest into God’s Kingdom.
Whatever is being done today with the testimonies of those who had received salvation, healing and deliverances under your ministry, will determine the height that you can climb into the great things of God. Those souls are in God’s Kingdom to declare the great things, that they had experienced under your anointing.
They must be given the opportunity to get their testimonies out, for the world around them to hear. They are the ones who had been given to you by God, in answer to all your prayers for those needs in your ministry.
Stop looking for material and financial resources to do the work of the Kingdom. Jesus told you to believe Him for them. He never told you to start looking for them. Start investing in the testimonies of those who had experienced the hand of God under your ministry, by giving room for their testimonies to be heard.
Give glory to God by using their testimonies to bring in the end time harvest for Jesus. It’s time to get them out of the comfortable four walls of the Church building. God can’t do anything until they go out with their testimonies. The unsaved world is waiting to hear them. Their testimonies will win souls into God’s Kingdom.
Don’t let them get too comfortable around you warming the benches. Benchwarmers will never get anything done in God’s Kingdom. They just like to come and fill up the pews for you.
Those who are always eager to share their testimonies will do great things for Jesus. They are the ones that God is looking for in taking you into a new level. They are the laborers in the Vineyard of God, that has been given to you.
Jesus wants to use their testimonies in transforming the world. They will grow into spiritual maturity, as you release them into the grace of God. They will do great things for God, just as God has done great things in their lives also.
Loose them and let them go
You see after Jesus had called Lazarus out of the grave, the scripture said:
“And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
John 11:44 NKJV
The picture here portrays what often happens spiritually, immediately after people have received salvation, healing and deliverance without sharing their testimonies. They are saved, healed and delivered; but still in the bondage to express their spiritual experiences.
In other words people can receive miracles from the Lord, but still remain bond to dead religious traditions. Sometimes Church rules and traditions may be preventing them, from sharing their testimonies with others.
And just as Jesus said after Lazarus came out of the grave. It’s time to “loose them and let them go”. Let them go everywhere sharing their testimonies like the man who got delivered from the legion of demons.
This was a common thing within the early Church. It was also normal in the ministry of Jesus. The testimonies of those who had received miracles, brought growth into the early Church. The gospel was spreading everywhere like wide fire.
The early Church had no bureaucratic set up. The Holy Spirit removed every bureaucratic influences on the Church from the Pharisees and Sadducees, as they were getting saved and baptized in Jesus’ name. We saw those who were ordained as deacons testifying about the grace of God. They got promoted into greater things through their testimonies about Jesus.
Stephen became the first evangelist to be martyred in the Church. His sleep in the Lord opened the door for the salvation of others like Paul. Stephen did great things for God (Acts of the Apostles 6:8-15 and chapter 7).
Phillip also became an evangelist, and took his testimony into all of Samaria (Acts 8:4-40). The fire of God was spreading through him as he testified about Jesus everywhere he went. He was unstoppable.
These believers never had the Bible, as we have it written for us today. All that they relied on was the Old Testament and their testimonies about Jesus. The testimonies of other believers and their own personal testimonies changed their world.
The testimonies about those who have received salvation, healing and deliverances in your ministry, holds the key into the great things that God wants to do in your life. More miracles are seeking manifestations through their testimonies.
Jesus is looking up to you to do what He commanded those people at the graveyard of Lazarus to do. They have to be loosed to go and testify. There are great evangelists, prophets, teachers, pastors and apostles that are coming into the Body of Christ; as room is given for the expression of their gifts to manifest through their testimonies.
The Samaritan woman
The Samaritan woman in John chapter 4 experienced something supernatural with Jesus. She had a gift that Jesus had to bring out through His dialogue with her. She was a woman who could use that gift in swaying the multitude to Jesus. Jesus brought her gift out through the truth about her life. The Holy Spirit showed her what was inside of her, that she never knew before.
But it was not just about her only. Her dialogue with Jesus was about the harvest, that was coming as she shared her testimony to others. The disciples could not understand it either.
Jesus told them:
… “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
John 4:32-38 NIV
Sowing the seed is “hard work”. And just as Jesus pointed out here, many have been sowing seeds for the harvesters to reap the harvest. Those are the people that have received miracles before under your ministry. They are the ones whom God has sent your way, to help you in reaping the harvest with their testimonies. Where you had sown tirelessly without any harvest, they are waiting on you to do something in allowing them to reap for you. It is harvest time! Loose them and let them go bring in the harvest of the Lord.
Jesus sowed the word into the life of this Samaritan woman. But she was the one who reaped the harvest, as she went to town testifying about what she had heard from Jesus. The harvest of souls was the food that Jesus was waiting for.
The scriptures says:
“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
John 4:39-42 NIV
Many of the Samaritans believed in Jesus because of the testimony of this woman. Jesus received a great harvest from this woman. The Samaritans would not had listened to Jesus, if He had done what this woman did among them. They did not normally associate with the Jews from Judea. There was a cultural and religious barrier that Jesus broke through in this woman. He had to sow the seed into this woman, for her to go and get Him the harvest.
If Jesus did it with this woman; you can do it also with those who have testimonies to share, as they sit in your pews at all times. Let them begin to testify about what Jesus had done for them. The harvest is knocking on your door. Great things are coming your way.
You have been working too hard for a long time. Now is the time for you to start enjoying the harvest of your labor. Begin to spread out your net for the great things ahead of you. Loose them and watch God finish the rest for you.