Brown's Daily Word 31-10

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for His faithfulness. Yesterday was designated as Testimony Sunday in our Church. Several people gave their testimonies, how the Lord has changed their lives, how He has been at work in their lives, and how the Lord is real and faithful. I was speaking with two people this week, one who is a high school principal, and one who is a Christian counselor. Both are committed Christians and faithful servants of Jesus Christ. Both are walking through valleys of darkness, illness, and trials, yet they are praising Jesus for the way that He is with them through it all. In the midst of all of their trials and tribulations they are praising Christ, who makes them triumphant.
It is written in Revelation 12:11, "They overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony". Praise the Lord that He gives us grace and anointing so that we can praise Him at all times. Anybody can praise God post-Jordan, post-lions' den, post-fiery furnace, post-prison. That is, after the fact it is not a great achievement to praise, but there is something special about a midway praise, or a midnight praise in a prison cell (Acts 16). For example, in Joshua 3 we read about how Joshua erected a pillar of stones in the midst of the Jordan where the priest’s feet stood firm on dry ground, when the crossing had not yet been completed. Joshua may have thought, This is my "going through it praise". I'm going through the worst trial of my life, but I’m going to praise him anyway. I’m going through hard times in my finances, but I’m going to praise him anyway. I’m going through the valley of the shadow of death, but I’m going to praise him anyway.This is our testimony that God has been faithful and that we believe that He will be faithful in our current circumstance. It is trust that others, at other times, are going to come this way and in the middle of their fiery trial they're going to see this pillar of praise and it’s going to remind them of the faithfulness of God. It will tell them that someone else has passed this way before them and didn't drown. Someone else stood the test of fire, yet they didn't burn up. Someone else stood bravely before the lions, yet the lions did not eat them and prison could not keep them. At Midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto the Lord and the prisoners heard them. (It didn't say they joined with them, or even that they enjoyed their singing, just that they heard it). Suddenly there was an earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison and every door flew open and every prisoner's bonds were loosed. I love it that, in the flight from Egypt, and again in the crossing of the Jordan River with Joshua, all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, Perhaps the greatest part of the miracle is not just that they made it through, but that there was no evidence, no residue, left over from their trial. It is just like the account of the three Hebrew children, when they came out of the furnace, that their clothes were not burned, their hair was not singed, and there was not even the smell of smoke on them. The evidence of their faith all started when the priests obeyed the Lord and stepped into the water. There’s somebody waiting for us to step in, so that we can be the key to someone else’s miracle.
In Christ, Brownhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8HgAVenbUU