Tell Your Story

Scripture:  Psalm 107:2
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story-- Those He redeemed from the hand of the foe.

Observations:
Redeemed… I've learned so much about this word in the past month or so.  Last week, Pastor Chris talked about its meaning as "to buy back or restore to its original purpose."  We are God's to begin with but because the world is under the control of the enemy, we sin.  But God loves us so much that even though we were his to begin with, and even though we chose sides against him, he made a way to buy us back-- the life of his only Son.  PC also talked about the fact that we were created in God's image and as soon as we claim salvation, the Lord restores us back to our original purpose.  What is that purpose?  One purpose: God's glory.

Then yesterday, we learned more about our true purpose, the ultimate in fulfillment, living out God's will for our lives.  We learned the Greek word "halal" which means "to praise."  But it means even more than that.  It means "to shine of God's favor; to be clear; to be brilliant."  I want a "halal life," don't you?  I want purpose like that.

This Psalm tells us one of the ways we can do that.  Tell your story-- the story of how you were redeemed-- the story of how the Lord bought you back-- the story of how you were restored to your original intent.

Applications:
This weekend at Fuel Retreat, we took a spiritual growth inventory.  Almost everyone I talked to about it said that their weakest area was witnessing to nonbelievers-- myself included.  During our one-on-ones a couple of different girls said to me, "I'm just not sure what my testimony is."  Well this verse tells us that we are called to tell that story.  That is a huge part of the "halal life."  So we've got to get that story ready.

This story takes different forms… Sometimes it's your salvation story that people need to hear.  They need to see the drastic change in your life from before you knew Christ until now.  Other times, they need to hear the story of a struggle that He delivered you from-- an addiction, a behavior, guilt.  Then other times, they just need to hear what's going on in your daily life… what the Lord is doing to sustain or to use you.

If you are a Christ-follower, you have a story.  You've got to be prepared to tell it!  That is how we will "shine of God's favor."  That's how we live that life of praise-- the "halal life."

So my challenge to you, especially to those of you who spent the weekend with us at Fuel Retreat, but to all my Christ-following friends, is to write down your story.  Practice telling it to your inner circle.  Then when you have an opportunity to share it with non-believers, you'll be ready.

Prayer:
Lord, you are amazing!  I thank you so much for the way you weave together what I'm learning during my quiet time, and at church, and with the students.  I am so thankful for all the ways that you speak into my life.  Lord, help me to be ready to tell my story.  Help me not to make excuses for not being ready to tell it.  Remove those obstacles that we talked about this weekend… distractions, indifference, poor planning.  I want to live the "halal life."  I want to shine for you.  Lord, I pray for the guys and girls who went to Fuel this past weekend.  I pray that they would continue the growth plan they started this weekend.  I pray that you would help them to carve out that time to spend with you.  I pray they would surround themselves with people who hold them accountable and speak truth into their lives.  I pray they would follow through with ministry to others.  And I pray that they would get their story ready to tell to anyone they come across.  In Jesus' name!  Amen!

Confident in this…
Miranda