"Je Sais" to "Je Connais"

July 9 2011 / ShareHim in Madagascar, Jun. 17 - Jul. 2 '11 #497
by Robby Raney


Personal Testimony of Robby Raney.

While I was in Madagascar, I kept waiting for “my story.” Most everyone would come home at night with stories of how God had blessed them, or how they had problems, but were able to continue. That never happened to me. There were some nights that I felt that I had been used by the Holy Spirit, but I never started speaking in tongues, and there were no demons interfering. I was thankful, but I was a little disappointed. Then I realized that I really did have a story to tell.

I had been somewhat bitter at the church, not because I had had a bad experience or because I saw something wrong with their doctrines. In fact, it was just the opposite. I love everything about the church, but I didn’t feel that my Bible classes had been worth anything. I had heard the speeches about God’s love and grace, but I had never been made to study our doctrines. I believed in God, but I didn’t know what I believed.

You’re not encouraged to get up and preach without at least reading through the sermon a few times, so it’s hard not to pretend to understand the topic. I was able to “master” the night’s topic in less than 24 hours, and really understand it. I had basically no experience with topics like the 2300 days, but, with the Holy Spirit’s help, I was able to understand them well enough to both explain them one-on-one and preach to the whole crowd.

I had finally discovered what I believed. I taught my congregation a phrase that Pastor Luis Leonor, our ShareHim representative, taught to us: If it’s in the Bible, I believe it. If it’s not in the Bible, I throw it away. I first told it to them the night that we studied Daniel 2 and how the Bible is reliable, and we repeated it most every night, before we would open God’s word. With that phrase running through my head, I was reminded of the trustworthiness of the Bible, and that I could believe what was in it. It may have looked like I was preaching to the congregation, but I was truly preaching to myself!

How amazing is God! He always gives us exactly what we need, when we need it. I had volunteered to help with pre-trip preparations, part of which involved going through the sermons and making sure that things matched where they needed to be. Some of the sermons, especially the one on death, I had to go through 4 or 5 times. Little did I know that it would soon bring me comfort. The Tuesday before I was to leave for Madagascar, I got word that my Grandfather had passed away due to a stroke. It was a great surprise, and we unexpectedly had to go to New York for his funeral. I was sad during the trip, but I took comfort in the beauty of what the Bible says about death. The next thing Grandpa knows he’ll be seeing the face of Jesus. When I preached about Heaven or Death, I got weepy, but they were happy tears. I know that Grandpa lived his life for God, and that he will rise again.

In French, there are two verbs for what in English we know as “to know”: Savoir and Connaître. Savoir is a basic knowledge (I know that September comes between August and October), but Connaître is a deep understanding (I know that the stove is hot because I just put my hand down on it). I went on my trip to Madagascar saying “Je sais mon Dieu,” but I came home saying “Je connais mon Dieu.” I went from saying “I know there’s a God out there somewhere” to saying “I know that God exists because I can feel him in my heart.”
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