A Compelling Testimony: Maintaining a Disciplined Walk, Christlike Character, and Godly Relationships as God's Servant

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A Compe l l i ng Tes t imony

c. As an affirmation of our deepest held conviction that only the revelation of God (his Word) sustains us, Matt. 4.4

d. Confession of sin (whether for one’s own sin or that for the sins of others), 1 Sam. 7.6; Neh. 9.1-2

e. Periods of mourning and sadness, Joel 2.12-13 – “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; [13] and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. f. Deliberate periods of extraordinary intercession on behalf of others as a sign of humility before the Lord, Deut. 9.18-19 – Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. [19] For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. g. As a sign of humility before the Lord in the face of another’s illness, 2 Sam. 12.15-16 – Then Nathan went to his house. And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he became sick. [16] David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.

h. As an act of obedience at the call of the Lord on his people, Isa. 22.12 – In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth; [13] and behold, joy and gladness,