Proof of God

PASTOR’S CORNER, Ann Holman, Risen Glory Church

Even though I had surrendered my life to the Lord many years before, my husband was still not a Christian. We had married before I came to the Lord. At times, my marriage was painful. There were some things going on that were very hurtful emotionally to me. 

During one of those difficult and painful times, I had been praying desperately for the Lord to show me what to do, but God had remained silent, with no sense of His presence. Had God backed me into a corner and then left me?

One morning, I was in the strawberry patch on my knees planting strawberries. As I was working, I was thinking about my situation. Finally, in frustration, I said out loud, “All I know, I am living a life of righteousness, and I sure didn’t use to.” When I said that, the Holy Spirit, who had been silent for so long, spoke to my heart, “That’s all the proof you are given. And it is all the proof you will ever need.”

I have reflected on the words God spoke to me many times through the years. The change in a human being is proof that God is real. The life before I came to Christ was sinful. Now, I lived a life of righteousness. What changed me? I sure didn’t change myself. It was God who changed me. When I had repented, and placed my trust in Christ to save me, I was born of God. God gave me a new nature. The fact that I was living a life of righteousness was the proof that God was real!

A believer who obeys Christ is conformed into His image. What an honor for us. Before we were saved, we did not care about God’s commandments. We broke them because that was just our nature. But God gave us a new nature. Now, we obey His commandments because we love God, and when we fail, it grieves us. And more and more, the Holy Spirit transforms us to look like Jesus.

For 50 years, I have been following Jesus in obedience. I am so changed that to doubt the Lord, I would have to deny the person that I am now. As the Lord spoke to me years ago in the strawberry patch, “That’s the only proof you are given. And it is the only proof you will ever need.”