We know that, but as soon as the subject of evangelism comes up, a variety of emotions begin to surge through most of us...guilt, fear, anxiety, regret. On top of that, many of us have convinced ourselves that pointing people to Jesus is a complicated thing better left to "evangelists".
But, what if we unloaded the guilt, the fear, the anxiety, and the regret. What if we took the burden of “getting people saved” off of our shoulders. What if witnessing was as simple as walking across the room and giving someone the greatest gift possible? It is that simple. Do you want to be used by God to point people to faith? Here are some ideas:
Be willing to step in to the "Zone of the Unknown". Most of us go to extraordinary lengths to build a "Circle of Comfort". But staying forfeits the opportunitiy to do anything significant with your life. If God is going to use you to point people to faith, you have to be willing to step out of your "Circle of Comfort" into the "Zone of the Unknown".
Essentially, that’s what Jesus did. Qhen we were helpless, Christ left heaven to step across time and space to rescue us. He took a decided step toward the ungodly, embracing the worst this planet had to offer with acceptance and love and forgiveness (Romans 5:6-8).
Jesus isn't the only one who did that. Think about your faith journey. One day, a person also took a risk to walk across a room, reflecting the curiosity, kindness, and love of Christ. Someone made the decision to take the gift they’d been given and give it to you.
Listen for the Holy Spirit's Promptings. Most of us put WAY too much pressure on ourselves in evangelism. We tell ourselves that it’s up to us get people saved. We think that if we just learn the right formula, technique or prayer, that we can get anybody to give their life to Jesus. But "getting people saved" isn’t our job, only God can do that.
Our job is to walk when God prompts us to walk, talk when he says to talk, be quiet when we’re at risk of saying too much, and stay put when he leads tells us to stay put (Galatians 5:25). The only thing we need to sustain effective evangelism year after year after year is an ear fine-tuned to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes there’s an open door. Sometimes there isn’t. How do you know? Listen to the Spirit’s promptings.
Do What's in Front of You. It would be nice if the work of evangelism were predictable. But it isn’t. It's a lot like gardening (Mark 4:3-8). Sometimes we’re the roto-tiller, breaking up hard soil in someone’s heart so the next person who comes along might have some influence. Sometimes we’re the sower, spreading the seed where someone else has done the hard work. Sometimes we’re the watering can, helping to quench thirsty souls. Sometimes we’re the garden weasel, dealing with the things that distract a person from God. Sometimes, we’re the harvester, picking really ripe fruit from the vine.
It isn’t up to us to choose the role we play, and we can’t predict the time frame of someone coming to faith. The Spirit of the holy, omnipotent, omnipresent God gets to do those things. Don't worry about the role you are playing, or how long it’s taking. Just do what’s do what’s in front of you, leaving the results in God’s hands.
Want to get started? Here's a simple step all of us can take. Prayer. Every day this week, at the beginning of each day, offer the following prayer: “God, my life is in your hands. Use me to point someone toward you today – I promise to cooperate in any way I can."
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