And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. —MARK 2:1
Breakthrough faith incited the paralytic’s four friends to take action, but it was hearing the testimonies and stories of Jesus’ works that awakened their faith to begin with. Oftentimes, it takes a simple declaration of testimony to transition our faith from being potential to going kinetic, from being “in waiting mode” to releasing measurable miraculous breakthroughs. We are going to explore this topic in the next few chapters, as it is the testimony that awakens the supernatural, prophetic power of faith in our hearts.
We see in Mark 2:1 that testimony about Jesus was spreading throughout the city. Surely, people often spoke of His miraculous power. I am certain that stories were exchanged of how He healed the sick, set people free from demonic torment, and turned impossible situations around. It goes without saying that the four guys (with their paralyzed friend) were exposed to a culture that is so desperately needed in the church today—a culture of storytelling and testimony.
We know that people were sharing these miraculous stories because we go on to see the by-product of everyone talking about the arrival of Jesus: “Immediately many gathered together” (Mark 2:2). Testimonies of the miraculous are divine invitations for people to experience the Miracle Maker for themselves. Something was heard that caused these four friends to lower their paralyzed friend through a roof in order to get to Jesus. Thus begs the question, What was heard that compelled the four men to behave so radically? Testimony.
Oftentimes, it takes a simple declaration of testimony to transition our faith from being potential to going kinetic.
As we begin to study testimony, let us begin with a big vision. Historically, when a region, city, or area experienced a powerful in-breaking of the Holy Spirit, which was often accompanied with mass conversions, signs, wonders, and supernatural phenomena, testimony of that activity would start to spread like wildfire. Whether we are talking about the day in which Jesus lived or twenty-first-century society, the power of testimony produces global shifts in the culture of faith. These shifts begin when everyday people like you and me hear what God is doing (or has done), and we start pressing in to experience the same realities in our spheres of influence.
Time after time, when believers in different geographies heard about what God was doing in certain hotbeds of spiritual activity, the testimony did something to all who read it, heard it, and received it. It was like the stories of God’s mighty exploits deposited relentless hope inside of these people. Though separated by continents, oceans, and sometimes eras in history, one common denominator connects all those who heard testimony of what God was doing: they all experienced hope that awakened breakthrough faith to believe God for history-making revival.
Remember, hope arises within us as we are exposed to possibilities that were previously off the radar. Hope gives us a new supernatural set of options. Before they are introduced to hope, believers are often just plugging away, doing what they know to do with the resources think they have. Then suddenly they hear of a fresh wind of the Spirit blowing in a different part of the world. Or they read a book about a historic revivalist or move of God that changed the landscape of a society. These testimonies become our fuel for breakthrough faith. Personally, I cannot escape the subject.
My interest in the theme of testimony began back in 2010, when I took a class dedicated to surveying the global activity and movement of the Holy Spirit throughout history. I was absolutely awestruck at how reports of the miracles and works of God spread throughout the earth. This was back before the Internet, before live-streaming technology, before cable television, and yes, even before radio. This was back when testimony was transmitted through print media, such as newspapers, magazines, and even letters. The method is not all that important; it is the incredible results that continually stir my heart.
I cannot help but think of the nation-shaking Welsh Revival of 1904 and its global impact. Revival historian Wesley Duewel noted that “the wind of the Holy Spirit carried the revival fire from nation to nation as the wonderful news of the revival in Wales reached prayer groups in many parts of the world.”54 What carried this revival fire? It was the power of testimony.
One of the greatest moves of God in recent history, the Azusa Street Revival, spread to the nations through the transmission of testimony as well. William Seymour, one of the key leaders at Azusa Street, had a periodical entitled Apostolic Faith, “which reached an international circulation of 50,000 at its peak in 1908…hundreds of visitors from all over the continent and internationally came to see what was happening and to be baptized in the Spirit.”55
Hope gives us a new supernatural set of options.
Such reports release new possibilities of God breaking into entire communities, converting people in masses, performing creative miracles, growing out missing body parts, manifesting His Presence visibly, and filling people with a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit. Again, those who heard testimony were exposed to new options. They had hope awakened deep within their hearts. But that was not enough for them. They allowed that hope to develop into breakthrough faith.
The people who heard about these mighty acts of God become discontent living to pursue the possible. They celebrated what God had done and was doing—and then pressed in to experience it for themselves. Duewel further explained that “as news of God’s mighty work in Wales reached them, Christians and Christian leaders in other places renewed and multiplied their efforts to seek the Lord until He answered. Holy hunger and thirst were deepened. Holy zeal was fanned into flame, and encouragement and expectancy filled many hearts.”56
Testimony exposes us to new realities and births within us a fiery spiritual tenacity. This is what creates a people who seek God until they actually find Him. This is what shapes revivalists. We catch a vision of what God has done and we become discontent settling for anything beneath everything that He wants to do in our lives, communities, cities, and nations.
Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness (Psalm 37:3).
While there are no levels of faith, there are practical ways to steward the faith we have already received. Here are three practical keys so that we can allow testimony to powerfully shape our faith and position us for a lifestyle of breakthrough.
Testimony Is Prophecy
First, we must understand that testimony is a prophecy of what God will do again. We read in Revelation 19:10 that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” When we declare testimony of what Jesus is doing or has done—from saving souls to healing bodies to transforming entire communities—we are actually prophesying what He will do again. Just as a prophecy can foretell a future event, testimony of what God has done in the past actually foretells what He can and will do again. How do we know that He will do what He has already done? It is His very nature to do so. Hebrews 13:8 reminds us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
Why do evangelistic outreaches often have people featured on stage, sharing their salvation testimony, talking about how they first came to know Jesus? The ministries or churches putting on the event are hoping that a particular person’s testimony will resonate with unbelievers in attendance, and let them know, “If God did this for me, then He can do it for you. If He saved me, He can and will save you.”
The Bible tells us that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34 KJV). What He did for one person, He can and will to do for the next. He is simply revealing who He is, and that does not change. There is something about a person sharing testimony of what God has done in his or her life that releases a fresh revelation of God’s nearness, power, and reality. It brings Scripture into 3-D.
Our testimonies are not a replacement for Scripture; they actually illustrate it. They prove that the Word of God works. When we experience realities that are written about in the Scriptures, we must share them, for our experiences demonstrate the reliability and relevance of God’s Word. It is not just a book to be engaged with mentally, but it is a legal document that shows us everything that is available for us to experience in God’s Kingdom.
Testimony Witnesses Who God Is
The second truth about testimony that will awaken faith within us is that testimony is a witness of who God is. Bill Johnson observes, “We are never the main characters in a testimony.”57 In Hebrew, the word testimony comes from the term `edah, which describes a testimony or witness. When God does something and it becomes a story to tell, the story actually gives expression and witness to who God is and what He is like. We praise Him for His acts but it never ends with what He did. His acts are to be pondered and considered, for they unveil who He is.
This is so important. Many well-meaning people urge us, “Don’t seek God’s hand; seek His face.” While there is some truth here, the problem with repeating this statement so often is that it dampens a believer’s hunger for the demonstration of God’s supernatural acts. The key is perspective. If we are just looking for a cool show, then yes, we are not mature enough to pursue God’s acts, for it does not end with Him. Instead, it ends with the miracle, with something getting fixed, healed, or restored. It ends with man’s wholeness, not God’s glory. God desires to release a torrent of supernatural activity through His church into the earth, unlike anything we’ve seen before. We are not waiting on Heaven; Heaven is waiting on the church and looking for a people with hearts that burn for Him alone.
Jesus is the ultimate example of this glorious witness to God’s nature. Everything He did revealed who the Father was. Paul notes that Jesus “is the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). And in Hebrews 1:3 we see that “the Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God” (NLT). Jesus explained it most clearly when He said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does” (John 5:19-20 NIV).
Jesus was the living embodiment of testimony. Everything He did—healing the sick, raising the dead, delivering people from demonic torment, loving the unlovely, touching the untouchable, silencing accusations, disarming condemnation—gave physical, visible expression to who God the Father was. This is why Jesus had to smile, and perhaps shake his head a little when Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us” (John 14:8). Patiently and lovingly Jesus responded, “You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand? To see Me is to see the Father” (John 14:9 MSG).
Testimony Keeps Future Generations Connected to God’s Reality
The third truth about testimony that will help awaken faith within us is that testimony keeps future generations connected to the reality of God. This is why stories of God’s supernatural interventions, signs, wonders, miracles, and breakthroughs are so important for us to continually rehearse. They are not secondary elements in the Christian experience. Testimonies are nourishment for future generations to feed on God’s faithfulness. They become living springs for our children to draw from, not merely to memorialize something that happened back in the day, but as a prophetic promise assuring future generations that what happened then can and will happen again.
The same testimony that stirred four men to bust through a ceiling is what we are called to declare to this generation—and the generations to come. In Psalm 78:5-7 we read:
For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God.
Testimonies are nourishment for future generations to feed on God’s faithfulness.
Again, Psalm 145:4 reminds us of our generational responsibility: “One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts.” We must connect future generations with testimony of what God is doing and has done in the past. This is an area where the church has been somewhat weak in its recent years. We assume that we are “feeding” our young people through a steady diet of principle-based sermons, community activities, fellowship, fun and games, modern worship, and the like. None of these are bad in and of themselves—they are just useless when they are divorced from a culture of testimony. We need to start telling a generation about the ear-tingling works of almighty God once again. Remember, He is the One who declared, “Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle” (1 Sam. 3:11).
We need to talk about the stories of miracles, signs, and wonders, where eyeballs appeared back in their sockets, limbs grew out where they were absent, and missing organs were supernaturally re-created. We need to share about the mighty revivals, where the Presence and power of God so powerfully fell upon a community that culture shifted. Darkness was subdued. Sinful activities diminished.
We need to testify of the men and women who recognized they walked under an open Heaven. They were not extraordinary. They were not celebrities. In fact, they were no different than you and me. Charles Spurgeon commented, “Whenever God has done a mighty work it has been by some very insignificant instrument.”58 The reformers and revivalists of old were simply people who lived with conviction. They recognized that Heaven was open over their lives and lived like it was true. They recognized that the breakthrough faith of God was inside of them to work the impossible—and they pressed in to actually experience it.
The generation that walks in a normal lifestyle of breakthrough faith is the generation that feeds on God’s testimonies as vital nourishment for sustaining spiritual life. Unfortunately, there is an opposite perspective that renders us powerless. When we are not constantly sharing testimony of what God is doing, He starts to seem distant. Is He really distant? Of course He isn’t.
The interesting thing is that testimony actually directs our view of God. As we focus on testimonies of His power and His mighty acts, we are reminded of His nearness and reality. When we are disconnected from testimony, however, we are disconnected from Him. God becomes a mere concept. He is surely out there—somewhere—but not close at hand. Perhaps we do not question His reality, but we may start responding to Him as though He is disinterested and uninvolved in our lives.
At all costs, we must avoid a culture where testimony is absent. If we do not continue to declare the works of the Lord, we run the risk of building spiritual culture like the one described in the book of Judges.
The people worshiped God throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the time of the leaders who survived him, leaders who had been in on all of God’s great work that He had done for Israel. Then Joshua son of Nun, the servant of God, died. He was 110 years old. They buried him in his allotted inheritance at Timnath Heres in the hills of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.
Eventually that entire generation died and was buried. Then another generation grew up that didn’t know anything of God or the work He had done for Israel. The people of Israel did evil in God’s sight (Judges 2:7-11 MSG).
A generation becomes prone to do evil in God’s sight when they are disconnected from a continuous feast on His acts, wonders, and supernatural exploits. In the chapters ahead we will study the power of sharing testimony, why developing a culture of testimony is so important in our lives and churches, and, finally, we will review some practical ways we can start building this type of faith-stirring environment.
By studying testimony of Jesus’ acts, wonders, and miracles, we awaken the breakthrough faith that God placed within us. Stories of what God has done in the past, or what He is doing in other places, show us what is possible in our lives and in our world today. By constantly reviewing these stories, our faith is awakened to believe that the same God who moved will move again.
There is More by Randy Clark
Revival Fire by Wesley Duewel
True Stories of the Miracles of Azusa Street and Beyond by Tommy Welchel and Michelle Griffith