Zach's Testimony

Hello my name is Zach Hildreth, and today I would like to share a summarized version of my testimony.

Right after I graduated highschool I got Lyme disease from getting bit from a tick. Lyme disease is a type of bacteria that crosses the blood brain barrier and gets into your tissues. There is no official cure for it, but there are treatments that work for certain people.
I was bed ridden for 3 years after high school and postponed college. During that time I grew a lot closer and stronger to the Lord. As it states in James 4:8 (New King James Version) “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” I tell everyone that I needed to go through that difficult time in order to develop into who I am in Christ today.

During this time the Lord started speaking to me and teaching me multiple spiritual lessons. The main one is that claiming the scriptures are important. The Lord told me that the word is like a hammer. You can read and talk about it, you can gain knowledge about it, but you need to use it in order for you to build things in your life. You activate the Lord's word in your life when you speak (out loud) the scriptures and claim them. This does not happen with prayer or worship, and is another tool we have and need to use, but probably is the most unused tool.

We know this is true and powerful for a few reasons. When satan came to Jesus 3 times (Mathew 4:1-11), Jesus did not pray or worship to the Lord, but he rebuked satan and stated a bible verse for that reason. All he had to do was say the scriptures out loud and satan had to flee. We also know this from how the universe was formed. There is 9 times in Genesis 1 where the scriptures state that "And God said..." and "..and it was so". This shows us the power of the Lord's word when spoken out loud.

Another important point to this is, You need to have complete faith and no doubt that these will work in your life, otherwise you can short circuit them and they wont work. (James 1:5-7) (New International Version) "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord."
Through all of this I realized that the Lord's word is his will for our lives and it has to manifest in our lives no matter what. There is no timeline as it is all in perfect timing and the Lord's timeline. Just like building a desk we can't guess ahead of time how many hammer swings we will need to do,but with every swing progress is being made.

The Lord showed me that the way we manifest his promises in our lives is by praying specific scriptures that pertain to the situation to God. By praising the Lord and thanking him for things he already has done for us in our lives, and for what he already has done for us on the cross, even though it has not manifested in our lives yet, and by claiming his scriptures out loud to enact the word of the Lord in our lives.

Since then the Lord has abundantly blessed, and has given me great skills in computer programming. I was able to get a bachelors in computer science, and I currently own my own business and work on various projects with clients all over the world, inventing different protocols and software, using the skills that the Lord has blessed me with. I have had many opportunities to share my faith with others in my work activities, and this has been a huge blessing.

I am so excited and grateful to be baptized today! My mother Michelle is also getting baptized as well. I was baptized in 2017 in a christian church, but since the Lord guided me to the SDA church, I wanted to get re-baptized in the new found truth that the Lord has guided me to. My mother has more of that story in her testimony.

My favorite bible verse is proverbs 16:32 (New International Version) “Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.”

My favorite Ellen White quote is “Our heavenly Father has a thousand ways to provide for us, of which we know nothing.” (The Desire of Ages, p. 330.1)

Thank you!