JesusWalk Bible Study Forum: Q1. Crediblity of a Stressed Witness - JesusWalk Bible Study Forum

Q1. (1:12-14) From the standpoint of witness to others, you are much more credible when you are undergoing personal struggles, stress, and problems. Why is this so? Why was Paul's witness so powerful? What personal struggle are you going through that could enhance your testimony if you handled it right?

From the standpoint of witness to others, you are much more credible when you are undergoing personal struggles, stress, and problems. Why is this so?
anyone can say or do things when all is well. the real test is when all isn't well, but hard to almost impossible

Why was Paul's witness so powerful?
he had nothing left to live for. all hope was gone..NOT! there's always GOD and what is to come. and with Paul showing his faith through all this it only makes it stronger. more believeable.

What personal struggle are you going through that could enhance your testimony if you handled it right?

i've already gone through a large struggle. in May of 2003 i had a brain tumor (the size of a baseball) which i had removed (in this process they had to take a small piece of the brain to remove it as well as leave a very small part of the tumor (which might re-grow) this left perminate damage. the brain had this tumor on it about 1 year. so it crushed the brain which left damage. it's been almost 2 years and i think that i'm as healed as can be. i'll never work again and many other things.
but i'm not angry, not then and not now. i was at the point in my life that i had wished i was dead anyway nothing was going well. not at home or at work.
with this happening GOD released me of my situation. i was now able to spend time with the ones i love. instead of spending 50+ hrs. at work. get to know my mother, daughter and yes even my husband. i was born again in GOD and teach religious classes, am able to go to bible study classes, and visit a 90 year old inbound woman (that's a peach) which i never would of meet.
i am disable, but would rather be this way than able and the other way. i've also saw who really cares for me. the only thing that i had a great deal of trouble with and sometimes still do is humility.
i was great on being miss independent doing thing myself. now i need the help of others for some things.
because of the way i handled it my daughter, husband and i are a real family. because i set the tone of GOD in my life, my home and all around me. i do feel i'm doing good. yet not completly. this shows me that GOD's in control not me. he knows what to do and when to do it.then we choose.

I think it's about faith being the certainty of things that are not seen. Even while troubles and danger surrounded Paul, he saw beyond them, and he showed others how to do so as well.

In like manner, our witness becomes more powerful when we are undergoing problems because I feel that most people realize that struggles are not "normal". There is an innate understanding that there is more to this life and time than just the present set of problems.

Our witness bears witness to the promises of God.

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[color=blue]1a.) Paul writes: "[/color][color=purple]Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows[/color][color=blue]." (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)[/color]
1b.) (1:12-14) Why was Paul's witness so powerful?
[color=blue]1b.) Because even in affliction and imprisonment he rejoices in the Lord. He never lost sight of the prize. Preaching Christ crucified and His resurrection.[/color]
1c.) (1:12-14) What personal struggle are you going through that could enhance your testimony if you handled it right?
[color=blue]1c.) Right now our daughter has had quite a year with a number of illnesses. The Lord has used this to make me rely in Him in our powerlessness.[/color]

Q1. (1:12-14) From the standpoint of witness to others, you are much more credible when you are undergoing personal struggles, stress, and problems. Why is this so?

If my life looks "perfect" to those that I'm witnessing to, I might come across as arrogant and false. How can I talk to those going through struggles if I haven't experienced struggles myself? On the other hand, if I am seen to have struggles, but still continue to trust in the Lord to bring me through them, I am that much more believable.

Why was Paul's witness so powerful?

Paul was a person who showed himself to be faithful and true to the Lord despite his struggles. To say nothing of having a "captive audience" in the form of his guards, who had no choice but to listen to his preaching!

What personal struggle are you going through that could enhance your testimony if you handled it right?

A lot of it is far to personal for a public board such as this, but suffice it to say that the Lord has brought me out of an abusive marriage to a place of safety, although I still have to deal with my abuser due to children's access.

Q1. (1:12-14) From the standpoint of witness to others, you are much more credible when you are undergoing personal struggles, stress, and problems. Why is this so? Why was Paul's witness so powerful? What personal struggle are you going through that could enhance your testimony if you handled it right?

When others see you in the midst of stress and problems, your witness can become a drawing power to God--IF you respond to that stress and problems with the peace of God evident in your behavior and speech. When people who do not know this peace--or God--see that you handle such problems without rancor, showing love and concern for others rather than yourself, they wonder what makes you different from them! When they then come to know you are a Christian, they understand and often come to believe on the Lord Jesus who alone can make such a difference!
Paul was in chains, suffering from being unjustly imprisoned--yet he could write encouragement to the churches he had started, showing his deep love for these believers and concern for their needs, downplaying his own. What a powerful chance to give witness to God's enabling power!
Right now, my husband and I are in the process of selling our farm in Indiana and moving to a new city in Florida. The house we are buying is smaller than our home here, so we must sift through our "stuff" that has accumulated over the 57 years of our marriage, deciding what to sell, what our children will want, what to toss, and what to take--then packing them up. Buying a home--partially long distance--is stressful, particularly as we now have the inspection report and see things that disturb us that are wrong with the place. We toss and turn, concerned if we should continue with this purchase, and when that settles a bit, the logistics of the auction, packing and move from here take over. Nowhere near the suffering of Paul, but it does make for snappy moments between us! Not good. Only with His help will we be able to go through this in a manner pleasing to Him and of use to Him!

Lesson 2 Q 1
(a) From the standpoint of witness to others, you are much more credible when you are undergoing personal struggles, stress, and problems. This is so because this is when we are given opportunities to demonstrate our faith in bad situations. In those times, we reflect what we believe. Also our faith will grow. A powerful time to be a witness to others.

(b) Paul's witness was so powerful because he kept his faith and remained bold to preach the Gospel, even in chains. Paul sees progress rather than difficulties in this bad situation. Every six hours Paul had a chance to further the Gospel with those soldiers, some becoming Christians plus influencing the entire unit, families and beyond. What faith!

© The personal struggle I am going through that could enhance my testimony if I handled it right is fear. If I just continue to keep my eyes on Jesus and be obedient, others will see me overcome fear, thus encouraging others that it is possibe to overcome with Jesus Christ. Everyday I think what f-e-a-r is: False Evidence Appearing Real. Amen?

(1:12-14) From the standpoint of witness to others, you are much more credible when you are undergoing personal struggles, stress, and problems. Why is this so?

Why should we be any different from Jesus? He became man so that he could understand the problems involved in being a man.

Why was Paul's witness so powerful?

Paul had an excellent grounding in God from his Jewish background. All this training would not be wasted but built on by the new ideas he gained as he grew in the Christian faith. Then he had a rather dramatic introduction to Jesus on the Damascus Road. There could be no doubt about his conversion. After that his first task was getting to know the people who he had been going to kill before his conversion. It was not long after that that he experienced what it was like to be one of the persecuted and left the city covertly. In other words he had loads of adventures and situations that would have built up his experience and knowledge about dealing with trials. There is nothing quite like being able to face one trial and that giving you the strength experience etc to get you through the next trial. Each trial and act of obedience would have led to a greater trust and dependence on God and an expectation that he would come through the other end.

What personal struggle are you going through that could enhance your testimony if you handled it right?
I find the work I do quite a challenge.
First I still have not quite got my head around all the topics I am supposed to teach e.g. determinism libertarianism and compatibilism yet I have done the lecture on these topics and am supposed to be sitting down and marking some. When I took on this job I only knew what the first terms topicswere and I knew those quite well but then I found that I hardly knew anything about the other subjects on the syllabus. The theology part was OK but the philosophy of religion and ethics was weak so I have been madly trying to teach myself these things before sorting out how to teach them to the students. I am supposed to be teaching them but I am finding that I am getting a good foundation in some topics that are useful to any teacher/speaker in the church.

Secondly I am not the best of disciplinarians and managing a class of teenagers even ones who want to learn this is definitely required. I did OK in last years inspections but struggled with this years and will need to repeat them next week.

Thirdly my lesson planning has to start with prayer and I have seen how useful this can be. I find that doing this when the exams comes around that the bits I have missed out have not appeared in the external exams and vice versa.

Fourthly last year I started teaching a completely new subject for me and had very little support. It was a huge change as I went from showing adults to how to use computers to teaching philosophy and ethics to teenagers. I love doing one to one stuff and find that easy but working with larger groups is not so easy for me. I was thrown into the deep end and told to go away and learn to swim. I have learnt to float but I still have to learn to do the stylish strokes and develop my skills and stamina so I can do an even better job.

Susan

Making it through life’s trials and problems takes faith. Faith in Jesus that He will be there no matter what the outcome of what we are going through. We need to have these trials in order to have compassion. When others look at what we are facing and how we come out it gives them encouragement. How else would we be able to be convincing to someone going through something telling them to keep the faith if we ourselves had never gone through struggles. Paul’s witness was so powerful because he had gone through more than anyone at that time and still kept working for the furtherance of the gospel.
When I sometimes get discouraged (we all do at times don’t we?) I am reminded of a time when our family was going through a bitter battle. We continued our walk with God. Continued in things that were going on at church, when at times it was very difficult to do so. A woman at church came up to me one day and said “I am so uplifted by your faith, that you can come and worship and do the things you do when you are going through such a terrible time.”
Right now I am going through a very difficult time in my life. (I could use your prayers.) My daughter, who is away at college, had told me that when she was a pre-teen my husband had sexually molested her for several years. She told me that she didn’t want me to leave him because I have 3 step sons that depend on me, I’ve raised since they were very young. I didn’t find out about this until she was gone away to school. I stayed for a couple of years. I confronted my husband, who denied everything. I prayed and fasted for the Lord’s guidance in what I should do. My husband is a minister and it was very hard for me to accept the truth. But I do believe my daughter. My son would not bring his family to see me, I lived in a different state, and my daughter would not come home because neither of them wanted to see their step-father. They are both struggling in their walk with God. After much prayer and fasting I came to realize that in order to help them I had to leave my home and the rest of my family. I left and moved back to the state that my son lives in and am trying to get my life back in order. I miss my step-sons terribly. I miss the life that I had. I feel that God had put me with my husband and it was my husbands choice to do the things that he did. God didn’t make him do it He allowed him to make a choice and he chose to sin. I don’t condone what he did, but I do forgive him, even though he won’t admit that he did anything wrong. I do hope and pray that the efforts that I make to help my son and daughter find their way back to God bear fruit. I also hope that my choice won’t jeopardize my step-sons’ walk with God. I know that God will be with me every step of the way. This struggle has brought me to a closer relationship with God than I have ever had before. I hope that people can look at this thing and see that even though God allows some things to happen, it is not His will that people should suffer. I keep remembering His words “Have you considered my servant Job?” and I know that what my family has gone through is from Satan himself, I pray daily that He gives me the grace to make it through like He gave Job the grace he needed. That I can be a strong witness thrugh it all like Paul was in his afflictions.

When we are undergoing personal struggles, stress, and problems we must wholly lean upon the LORD and when we do it will show in our lives.

Paul's witness was so powerful because he had depended upon the LORD since the day he met Him.

I am not going through a personal struggle right now but I have been through many and I found that when I went to the LORD and told Him all about my problems He was there with comfort and He brought me through those struggles, stresses and problems.

Q1. (1:12-14) From the standpoint of witness to others, you are much more credible when you are undergoing personal struggles, stress, and problems. Why is this so? Why was Paul's witness so powerful? What personal struggle are you going through that could enhance your testimony if you handled it right?

You are more credible when going or have gone through personal struggles because you can personally attain to what God has done. Paul came from being an Jewish unbeliever to a preacher of Christ who endured much hardship to do so.

Right now I am having a difficult time at work with being overworked. There is a lot of stress and pressure. If I can keep my patience and temper and "stay sweet" it would enhance my testimony because I know that I can only do this with the help and control of the Holy Spirit.

Trials produce our true character. It's easy to be nice when things are going our way but when things don't we reveal our true character. If we remain faithful through the trials we become more effective (credible) because we all know how difficult it would be to do so. In doing so, people are amazed and wonder how we do it - how is it possible to be calm in the midst of a storm? Unfortunately, I'm not always calm because I take my eyes off of God and start sinking like Peter. Right now I'm faced with a difficult behavior someone is inflicting on me and up to now I've been responding as a non-believer. However, I just realized it's a test in which I can allow the Holy Spirit to lead me through and become an effective witness to others as well as build strong character within myself. Seeing through these new glasses, I happily move forward.

[font="Geneva"]When things are going well in our lives, it's easy to express faith and confidence in God. It's when our lives are disrupted by unexpected challenges that our true self emerges. When we persevere in faith and seek God during seasons of hardship, our witness attests to the power of God's hand in our lives. [color=green]“The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn't collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.” (Mat 7:25)[/color]

Paul addresses the Philippians from jail—shackled and tormented—yet his faith in the Lord is unswayed by his human condition. Despite Paul's sufferings, he exhorts the Philippians to a life which honors the glory of God—what a powerful witness.

Personally, I struggle with employment matters. My humanity urges me to handle the matter with my own hands—and too often I take that path. I fail to do what I know I should—that is, take my concerns to God in prayer, and seek encouragement through fellowship with my Christian friends. I am yet still so incomplete.

[color=purple]Dear Lord Jesus, shape in me a heart like Paul. Forgive me for being so stubborn. Open my heart to your love, that I may rest in peace with you. Amen.[/color]
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Unfortunately, people tend to ignore their nedd for salvation when things are going well in their lives. Only when trouble overwhelms them do they seek God. When we are troubled, persecuted in pain or stressed out-but continue to rejoice in our salvation anyway-we impact the lives of people who need the saving grace of God. By standing on top of, instead of being crushed by our problems, we show others that God offers a refuge that can be found nowhere else.
Paul was kept in at least a state of house arrest. He still took every opportunity to tell those around him of the love of Jesus. Even many of his captors came to salvation through his witness. The Christians that were not incarcerated were emboldened by Paul's unshakeable faith, and redoubled ther efforts.
I personally am recovering (slowly) from total knee surgery. At the time I was released to go back to work 40 hrs/wk at a desk job, my employer of 16 years decided that I was no longer needed. This blow to my self esteem and my wallet was totally unexpected. I had a little pity party for 2 days, then cast my trouble to the Lord, and got on with being His servant again. I believe that part of the lesson I was expected to learn here was to put my troubles at the foot of the cross-AND LEAVE THEM THERE! Letting this lesson shine through in my life, I pray, can be a strong witness to the awesome God we serve.

[B]When under going personal stress and struggles you are a better witness because at these times you are more apt to be walking a closer work with God. When you can stand on faith in tough times this encourages others to be more faithful. If they can see your dependence on God they will more likely to depend on God themselves. Although we should be walking close to God at all times this is usually not the way it is, it is when we are in trouble that we run to Him.
Paul's witness was so powerful because he spoke from his experiences and had been through experiences some one else had been through. If we have walked in the same shoes than we know better where people are coming from and we can testify of what God did for us in those circumstance.

As for my personal struggles there are many I've been through but there is two I find I have the most trouble with and that is worry and fear of the future. Both of these are sin and I would like to receive the victory for them. Why I say receive the victory is because we already have the victory in Christ we just have to accept it andbelieve it. I will go to the altar lay it down and not long after pick it back up, just to have to lay it down again. If I would just leave it at the altar it would than enhance my testimony because others around me would see the freedom God has given me in these issues.

My most recent struggle came being persecuted in my own church. I found strength to endure for awhile, but chose to leave the church eventually. Looking back, I feel that God was leading me in a new direction. Maybe my usefulness was used up where I was! In reading this lesson, I had to laugh at the part that said show me a person who's effectively working for Christ and I'll show you a person with enemies!!! I am struggling with forgiving those who hurt me deeply in our church and have trouble understanding how I can forgive them effectively when they do not admit wrong doing. Can you forgive without repentance??? Or just accept and try to understand?
Anyway, yesterday I received a job offer as superintendant of the Sunday school at my new church. The direction I am supposed to take? I think maybe this is the road that He was nudging me towards! I am so excited about my church life once again

As a witness, you simply tell what you know, what you’ve seen and experienced yourself. In a courtroom, you only have credibility or believability if you have first-hand knowledge. It’s the same in everyday life as you deal with people. When you have dealt with personal struggles, stress, and problems yourself, you understand what another person is really going through and what you share about it has more impact. You speak from compassionate empathy, not just sympathy. You are less likely to be judgmental about someone else’s problem or how it’s being handled. (S)he can perhaps see in you what it will be like to come out on the other side of the circumstance and gain hope, peace, strength to seek the Lord and endure.

Paul’s testimony was so powerful because he had lived what he was talking about! He had been radically and completely transformed by the power of Christ. He could see past the temporal to the glorious in all things.

I live in the challenge of a difficult marriage. My husband has the outer appearance of being a Christian, but he has grown very little in faith, grace, and spiritual discernment over the many years since his conversion. God faithfully gives strength and regenerates hope when things seem impossible to bear. There are many hurting women who could use encouragement like that.

God allows trials and tribulations in our lives to TEST our faith - do we believe what we say we believe when things are going smoothly? Yet, all the time He is watching to snatch us out of it when it gets to be more than we can bear. That is a promise of God to every beleiver and one we need to learn to TRUST in. Without troubles, we would never know the measure of our growth level in Trusting God. Paul was innocent and all knew of the trials he was under - they also knew that he never gave up fulfilling his purpose in Christ - to share the Gospel and did it wherever he was - in jail or out. That is the lesson for us - whereever we are, we are to continue to fulfill our purpose in Christ and let God handle the rest - Trusting in His promise of Jer 29:11 and Romans 8:28 all the time.
Presently our family is undergoing a most difficult TRUST TEST and because of many faithful Christian friends who remind us of God's promises and hold us up in prayer and love - we have not sunk under the raging waters. It is rather like floating on an inner tube amonst the waves, not knowing where you will end up, but knowing God is guiding you all the way and that love is keeping you afloat no matter what tries to drown you.

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Too many people believe living a life for Christ, is one of ease, lack of pain and sorrow. We that live this life, wonderful that it is, know better.
We experience the same hurts, pains and sorrows that others do....we've just got the One with us that makes it all bearable.
"Great Sea-men are made in rough waters"...our struggles and problems may many times be the door by which we are able to sympathize and witness to [and with] anothers pain. Like in the saying; 'Been there, done that'..you can't understand lose if you've never lost anyone or anything.
You can never weep along side another and offer comfort, if you've never wept yourself.

People watch us...those of us that are followers of Christ. They watch how we react in these times of struggle, pain and stress. We are never a better witness of the grace, love, and power of our Lord, than when we are struggling with the same issues the world struggles with...and do it with peace, by the grace of God.

As for Paul...he lost 'all' to gain all.

I can honestly say, I have not always suffered in 'peace'...nor have I suffered lose, without doubt creeping in. But I would pray as I've matured in Christ, it is becoming easier to understand the principles behind our sufferings. That it is all for the glory of God, and that 'all things' really do work for the good, for those who love Christ and are called according to His purpose.