So please, come, share your testimonies, there are many that need to hear them, for what was it Jesus said
Mat 10:31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Mat 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
This passage you selected . . . vs 31 speaks of God meeting our needs, then 32 of confessing Jesus before others.
I think "need" is the key, dependancy on God. The more desperate we are, the more needy, the more likely we will go to God with openness and vulnerability. Like Rita pointed out -
@Butterfly - the nearness of death can do amazing things to focus us on God, and what is real and important.
At least that's how it was with me.
I was critically ill, and Jesus told me what to do to stay alive. He has gone on to lead me away from numerous prescriptions and metabolic disorder with hypertension and diabetes and insulin and all that. I was severely emotionally damaged, and Jesus walked me through a miraculous healing, then showed me the way without the miracle - that's a miracle in itself. What Jesus did for me medical sciences says doesn't happen.
I get laughed at, I don't care.
People call it "Bible Roulette", but I call it, I need You God speak to me!
So in the middle of the night and I was so lost in what I needed to do, so confused, crying out to God, I just feel lost in a wilderness! That was how I felt, just in the middle of nowhere with no idea what to do, Speak to me Please! And my Bible flops open, and I look at the page, "The Lord is my Shepherd" . . .
When I'm pouring out my heart to my little sister, yes, these things really did happen, recounting the events of childhood so she can know she's not crazy, until I'm an emotional wreck, I do to my car, switch on the radio, and hear the words . . . "Psalm 27:10, when my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up" . . .
When I'm dealing with the aftermath of my first true panic attack (emergency room time), "God, help me deal with this fear!" I go to my Bible, let it flop open, look at the page, read the words, "The LORD is my light and my salvation, why should I be afraid?"
I can go on and on with these examples, this was how I survived the better part of a year, in acute desperation, seeking after God.
When I was in my room in the middle of the night, desolate over my state, and I read,
Psalm 129
1 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:
2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
This so described how I felt, ruined from childhood, and left a complete mess.
4 The Lord is righteous: he hath
cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
And reading the word Cut felt it all fall away from me, leaving me free from all effects of my past, a freedom from my flesh, a freedom from sin, a wonderful time that went on, but then ended, which prepared me for the hard work when it all came back.
So I could both believe that freedom from the flesh and from sin is real, and that I could then go on to learn the faith that makes it so. Faith Does make it so.
Experiencing life that way gave me a sure knowledge that I needed to get through the difficult times of rebuilding my wasted body, waiting out the worst of the depression (my how tame that word seems!) and learning a completely different way of life.
I find it very difficult to talk about as there was so much going on between God and me, so deeply in my life, but I have become convince, for those who love Jesus, even for those who want to love Jesus, Jesus comes to us to make it so.
Much love!