2 Corinthians 5:17 reminds us: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” What a beautiful truth to carry into this new year 2025. In Christ, every day is an opportunity for renewal. The challenges, successes, and lessons of the past year have shaped us and our lives, but His mercies are new every morning, offering us grace to continue the work He’s entrusted to us. As we lead our lives into this new year, take a moment to pray for the direction God has for you, for your family, your job and very importantly for your ministry. 

We do have an individual ministry responsibility as a child of The King. We have been given the instruction to go and spread the good news Luke 14:23 and Matthew 22:9. To share our story/testimony about how Jesus has changed our lives. Isaiah 43:10; Psalm 71:15-16; Psalms 96:3. We see in Acts 1:8 and Acts 4:20 that we as a Christian won’t feel right unless we testify. Every Spirit-led believer feels the nudge to testify, and we will always feel regret when we resist and disobey. In fact we learn from Acts 5:27-32 that sharing testimony is a command of God, so when we stay silent, we are in disobedience. Are you a little on the shy side? Pray before you begin, ask Him to prepare the person that you are about to share with and ask Him to speak through you. Trust that He will guide you every step of the way.

Use our gifts. We all have God-given gifts. Some gifts are to do great things and for others our gift may be to be a prayer warrior and someone to plant the seeds of salvation through Christ by sharing our stories. Without those people using their gifts properly perhaps someone would not get their opportunity to accept Christ as their Savior and that is a very scary and sad thought. In Acts 26:1-3 we see the importance of being a bold witness for The Lord. Have you ever left a birthday or Christmas gift unopened? Of course not. You rip it open to see what you will discover. And then, with anticipation, you consider how you will use the gift. The chance to share a testimony is also a gift, a blessing from God, for which we should all consider ourselves fortunate. God gives us the gift of a testimony so we can share it. 

We all have moments of shyness and fear of testifying to others. We don’t know how they may respond. We need to not allow opportunities to share about Christ to pass us by because what if that is the only or the last chance that person will ever have to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ? Helping us to testify about Jesus to others is one of the primary functions of the Holy Spirit. As believers, we have the Holy Spirit in us, so it’s also our job to testify to God’s work and to submit to the Holy Spirit’s guidance in doing so. This means we should take any doubts or questions about testifying to the Holy Spirit in prayer. Trust that He can guide us, give us the words and initiative to speak them. Matthew 10:17-20. 

Show others how God wants us to live, by the example of the way we live, what we say and do. Share with them your personal story of how you came to know Christ and accepted Him as your Savior and how that has changed your life. Giving all glory, all honor and every single praise to Him because that is where it belongs. A story is evidence of how we live, so when our stories point to Jesus, we show others how to walk alongside Him, and how He is the reason for every good thing in our lives. Stories about God’s faithfulness show people that the only way to live is with and through Jesus Christ. Matthew 5:16. 

Share with everyone that you meet the truth about how amazing Jesus Christ is. Mark 5:20 speaks to how everyone needs to know how amazing Jesus is, so we need to show others with our lives and share our stories, and then we can pray that those who hear or read our story takes it as the gift it is into their hearts and that they do something with their new treasure. We need to express to everyone God’s mercy Mark 5:19 tells us how we all need mercy, and testimony is proof that God is always merciful to those with a sincere heart. By sharing with someone how God showed us mercy it serves as evidence that no matter who they are or what they may have done God will show them mercy too. 

Jesus himself told us to testify in Luke 8:39. We need to testify because the Bible commands us to, over and over. As God’s children, we are called to obey. That alone should be all the encouragement that we need. However there are so many ways that God can use our stories when we share. We see in John 4:39 that one woman rushed off following an encounter at the well with Jesus to tell her community. From that testimony it is recorded that thousands of people believed in Him. If The Holy Spirit wills it then there is no limit to what can result from you sharing your story and testifying about Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 tells us that God comforts us not only for our sake in the moment, but so that we can learn from the experience to help others. God’s comfort is meant to be shared. One way to share His comfort is through sharing our own story. By telling someone our story it can help them to know that we can relate and that they are not alone. In 1 Timothy 6:12 it shows us that taking hold, sharing our story is one way to fight the good fight of faith and take hold of eternal life for ourselves and others. Sharing stories of God’s goodness is a gentle, loving way to defend the faith and explain why we have such hope in Jesus. 1 Peter 3:15. 

Revelation 12:11 This verse from the Book of Revelation is the banner scripture for Christian writers, and it applies to everyone who testifies to God’s work, satan’s ultimate demise comes from testimony and Jesus’s sacrifice because when we offer a testimony to the Holy Spirit, He uses it to defeat evil. Revelation 19:10 God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Unlike the stock market, Jesus’s past behavior is predictive of future results, which means we can have comfort in His love and courage in His grace. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. What God has done in my life, He wants to do in your life as well. We hope this inspires you to tell your stories of God’s redemptive work more often. In heaven, we will praise God continually, so isn’t that enough reason in itself to give Him glory. With each testimony we then share a piece of heaven, right here on earth, so why wait until glory?