The power of stories

Why did the Centurion come to Jesus, but only that he had heard of His mighty works?  If people do not hear, how will they believe?

Faith comes by hearing....First, people must hear and then they must come to ask.

If I had never heard of the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit," how would I have known to ask?  I would have been without hope, for I would not have believed that God was still at work in the world today as He was on the day of Pentecost.  But in His great mercy, He sent to me a young girl who could testify to the power of God to transform a life, and from her testimony, I was able to ask for that power in my own life.  All of my education and "knowledge" had not led me to faith, but to unbelief, although I still had "Religion."  But seeing and hearing what God had done for this girl brought me to ask for the same gift. 

As in Scripture, it is not about scholarship, but about stories.  And the one thing each of us has is a story.  It's that simple:  "Here is what God has done for me.  He has delivered me out of the power of darkness into His marvelous light."  In her case, it was deliverance from the power of drugs.  If we do not have a story, we have little else.