(By: Norm Rasmussen, Director, Precious Testimonies Evangelistic Ministries)

"We must have a TEST, and PASS the test ... 

before we have a testi-MOAN-EEE of any impact"

• Tips On Writing Your Christian Testimony - Pt 1 of 3

• The Immeasurable Value Of Your Christian Testimony (God Story) - Pt 2 of 3

• How To Write (SHARE) Your Testimony With Impact - Pt 3 of 3 

• Seven reasons to share your salvation testimony

• Seven reasons why Satan doesn't want you sharing your salvation testimony

Your born again - salvation testimony is an incredibly valuable aid in helping reach lost souls. It is also an invaluable means of imparting hope, insight, and encouragement to others. When written as a "Love Story of Appreciation" . . . there is no way of humanly knowing just how many lives God might touch with it.

God has called Precious Testimonies Evangelistic Ministries to be a means of publishing your "love story" - your "God story" testimony -- taking it out to the world so God can use it to touch the lives of others. He has also called us to exhort OTHER Christians to seek Him about becoming testimonial publishers like we are -- giving Christians a platform to share what God has done in their lives through the Internet.  

God desires His people to "declare His glory among the nations" (Psalms 96:3), letting the world know what He has done for them. The Internet provides Christians the opportunity to declare the glory of God around the world unlike anything else the world has ever known. Let's USE what God has given us, Christians! 

Most cell phones now has video capability. Share how you became saved on it and post it on Youtube. God can't use it until you give it to Him to use! And you have no idea how many lives God will touch with it over time. Yet God can't touch even one life with it until you give it to Him to use. It's as simple as that. 

Many Christians don't take the time to write their testimonies, (and Satan loves it!). One reason for this is because Christians simply don't have much confidence in their ability to communicate through writing (or sharing it on a video camera). Our hope is that some of the tips offered in this writing would be useful in helping you write your testimony and let God begin using it as well as speaking it.   

Another reason some Christians don't write their testimonies is simply that they are so discouraged with life (demonic mental warfare) that they just have a real hard time believing that God would want to use their testimony, even if they did share it. Prisoners often feel this way. If that happens to be you, all we can say is that this is simply not true. Every person's God story is important and valuable if it glorifies Jesus Christ and doesn't contradict God's Word (The Holy Bible).

As a quick sidebar here.  We have been in the ministry of publishing testimonies for God now for over 30 years. We can ask 100 born again Christians who have powerful testimonies to allow us to videotape them testifying and put their testimony on the Internet and on the various TV stations we play testimonies on. Of those 100 Christians, if one allows us to videotape them, we are overjoyed!  Just one, mind you. That ought not to be! Every born again Christian should be eager for opportunities to share what Jesus has done for them. Every born again Christian. Yet personal experience tells us that born again Christians are brainwashed by Satan to come up with every reason NOT to share their testimonies ... yet have no clue Satan is doing their thinking. It's mind boggling, to say the least.  

Here's a common excuse in this alarming statistic. We hear a number of Christians say, "God is not finished with me yet, so until He's finished, I really can't do my testimony justice." Though this can be true in some situations, for the most part, people who say this have a misunderstanding of the opportunity being presented to them. If you are born again, what God is doing right now has no bearing on WHEN and HOW you got born again. The circumstances surrounding how the Holy Spirit drew you to Jesus Christ and your trusting Him to be your Savior and Lord will never change. Don't let the devil cloud your mind of that fact.

Many prisoners have told us that until they get out of prison, they really can't send their testimonies to us, because it might jeopardize their release. That's another lie of Satan to keep them from letting God use their testimony. (By the way, they'll never have more time to write their testimony than when they are in prison).

We do NOT expect or encourage prisoners to share facts that the devil can use against them. All a prisoner (or anyone outside of prison for that matter) is being encouraged to do is share how they came to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Write the "love letter" of how it happened with as much passionate emotion, appreciation and detail that you can. (Your testimony can always be shortened if it's too long.  It can't be lengthened by anyone but you).   

We get some testimonies from people who share with us that they got connected with Jesus Christ, and it fills up less than half a page! Though we are thankful and privileged to get them, it is painfully obvious that many Christians simply have not been taught some effective means of communicating something as precious as their testimony. 

A typical example would read something like this: "I was struggling with things in my life, and one day I decided to turn my life over to Jesus Christ. I got saved on such-and-such a day, and God changed my life powerfully! I am so thankful He has done so, and Jesus Christ now means more to me than everything else in life. I hope you publish my testimony, (if it isn't too long)." -- The end

A testimony like this is a great start,, but more detail needs to be added. Were you raised in a Christian environment or not? Were you raised something different than a Christian? If so, what? Did you always believe there is a God, or not? What did you think about GOD when you were growing up? Pretend that I'm not a Christian and I'm trying to find out if God is REAL or NOT, and if this Jesus Christ is truly someone I want to ask to be my Savior or not. Tell me what you thought about HIM when you were young. If He's real to you NOW, give me all the struggles you went through to come to this place where you KNOW He's real . . . not just "think" He's real.

"If Jesus IS real, and He's the BEST God to serve, give me some times in your life when you doubted like I'm doubting NOW. Anybody can believe anything about God. Tell me times when God moved in your life so that I can have some hope that He might do the same in MY life. 

"Tell me about the supernatural experiences God has given you. Tell me about the times that you were angry or bitter or frustrated with God. Be real with me. Tell me about your God encounters! I want to know the exciting highlights about how God has worked in your life. Good for you that you got "saved", but what has it done for you that I can get excited about?" [Please keep in mind: we would rather have a testimony that is too long, rather than too short. We can always shorten a testimony, but we can't lengthen it. Only YOU can do that].

Another way of saying it is that people get more excited in listening to you and I when we are PASSIONATE about what we are talking about. Passion involves strong feelings and intense emotions. When we testify, God wants us to be passionate about what we have to say. It's the most EFFECTIVE tool a successful communicator has at his or her disposal. God invented "passion", and He has no problem with His people having a monopoly on it!

Telling your testimony should be like a bride sharing about her wedding day. She wants to show her friends all the wedding pictures. She wants to describe the details behind each picture. She wants to communicate to everyone who will listen how special that day was to her, and she WILL, if you give her a chance. Why? Because it was the most important day of her life!

This is the goal to strive for, dear saint. Paint the best picture in the mind of the reader or listener that you can! Words are "brush strokes" of the artist to the mind of your reader or listener. 

Few skilled artists want to paint pictures just for the sake of painting beautiful pictures. They want to trigger the emotions of the heart of everyone who sees that painting. They want people to see that painting in their soul every moment the rest of their lives. A skilled artist knows that if they can stir your emotions strongly and favorably, they have accomplished their purpose. 

Truly - God would have us strive to become masterful artists as we share our testimonies. (It should be the most important and exciting story we have to tell!) Telling them in such a way that they stir the depths of emotion in the reader or hearer. Yet we must remind ourselves that it takes time to become a skilled artist. It is not learned in one day. A painter has to paint and keep painting, learning what others know, and developing their knowledge and skills. 

A skilled testifier does the same thing. It starts by putting words on paper - perhaps simply a paragraph a week. The words will get changed -- added on to -- deleted -- until a roughly formed testimony eventually gets transformed into "a piece of art" that stirs the emotions of everyone who is privileged to view it. Like any other craft, it takes work to make words stir emotions. It is our prayer that YOU will choose to go to God and ask Him for help in teaching you how to share your testimony in such a way that it will burn a hole in the soul of every person who reads or hears it. The challenge is to get the details mixed with passionate emotion out of your heart and onto paper. Remember . . . You CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens you. (See Philippians 4:13). 

Another good illustration of sharing one's testimony effectively is to listen to a mother share her experience of giving birth to her first child. It was a moment in her life she will NEVER forget, and EVERYBODY needs to hear about it! She'll share what was happening BEFORE she got to the hospital. She'll share what happened DURING DELIVERY. She'll share the PAIN and the JOY of living through the experience, and you'll see the glow come back to her face, as she relives the experience as she shares. Women have an inborn ability to share experiences such as this with strong feeling and emotion, and that's the way God wants both men and women to be when they share the facts of their "spiritual rebirth encounter with Him." Strive to draw people into your experience, so they won't forget it either! You are connected to the Creator of the universe, dear reader. You have the most important LOVE STORY to tell of how it happened that could ever possibly be told!

IMPORTANT TIP: Some people find it easier to write their "love story" by literally beginning to write: "Dear Jesus . . . I'm writing you this "love letter", to tell you how thankful I am for what you have done for me, and how much you mean to me." Having a person in mind when you write can be most helpful. Why not visualize the One who died for you? He will be your closest, most intimate friend throughout eternity!

Please remember this: Sadly - God cannot use your "love letter" if you don't write Him one. Getting to heaven -- yet leaving your testimony (love letter) behind for God to use -- is one of the greatest gifts you can give Him. Please always remember that. 

Every born again Christian is a masterpiece painting of God's unconditional love, painted by the Master. Copies of YOU -- His masterpiece painting -- can be seen around the WORLD for others to appreciate . . . if recorded and given to Him to hang in the "art gallery" of humanity.

We want the story that God has written in our lives to keep touching OTHERS down here long after we've passed into heaven. We have no right to keep it buried inside of ourselves. It really isn't ours to keep. God wrote it, and He should be given the right to use it however and wherever He wants. 

Please pray about writing your testimony, if you have not begun doing so yet. God will give you the grace to write it once you've made the decision. Once you let it go out, God will begin to use it to start "laying up treasure in heaven for you," (Matthew 6:19-20) that no mere human being can fathom this side of eternity!

BEFORE:

Give details of your life before you became serious about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. What type of environment were you raised in?  What were your beliefs about God? What were your beliefs about the Bible? What did the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross mean to you?  What was your understanding of this sacrifice for your sins?

DURING -  (The BORN AGAIN Process):

Your number one purpose for testifying is to give God glory for what He has done in your life. Describe the circumstances that caused you to get serious and turn your life over to Jesus Christ.  

Many people’s actions spring out of their unsatisfied, deep inner needs. Did you have some unsatisfied, deep inner need(s) that the Holy Spirit used to draw you to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?  

Here are some examples:

Lack of peace. Fear of death/hell. Something missing-void in your life. No meaning to life. Loneliness. Lack of security. Poverty. Lack of purpose. Longing to be loved. Longing to be unconditionally accepted. No real friends. No motivation. Alcohol or chemical dependencies. Eating disorders. Guilt from sin. Hopelessness- prison. Boredom with religion. Demonic activity in your life. Need of deliverance-healing. Hunger to know God better.  

AFTER:

Share how your relationship with Jesus Christ has changed you. Why are you excited about your relationship with Christ now? Give the details!  

As you write your testimony … be sensitive to the Holy Spirit about interweaving scripture into your testimony. Use a Bible translation that is easy to understand.

It is usually better to write a testimony that you think is too long rather than one that is too brief, when submitting it for publication. A long testimony can always be shortened, but too brief of a testimony cannot be made longer by an editing staff.

The most effective testimony is not sharing a list of your “spiritual accomplishments.” People searching for spiritual answers want to know how God became real and alive in your life. Simply state the facts of how this has happened (unless the testimony you are sharing is specifically a deliverance and/or healing testimony, or a dynamic answer to prayer praise report. These topics of course can be incorporated into your born again testimony).   

Try to use words that the unsaved comprehend the easiest. Stay away from using “religious” words as best as you can. Being transparent – being real – being humble and appreciative and thankful . . . gives God the quality of testimony He desires you share on His behalf.    

“Go tell the world … what the Lord has done for you!”

PLEASE HELP US HELP YOU SHARE THE BEST NEWS GOD HAS FOR EVERY PERSON BECAUSE...

JESUS DID IT! and...

YOU ARE SO GREATLY NEEDED!

Remember:  All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-20 is our assurance)