God has called each of His children to be an ambassador for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). As believers, we are to "do the work of an evangelist" (2 Tim. 4:5). Jesus Himself said, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses. . ." (Acts 1:8).
In light of Jesus' instructions and the promise of spiritual empower-ment, the apostle Paul prayed for two things: opportunities to speak, and the boldness to speak as he ought to speak (Eph. 6:19-20). If God answers the first request, He will most certainly answer the second as well. But this requires walking by faith and not by sight. For instance, my guess is that you have often been aware when opportunities have arisen, yet you have lacked the boldness to share the gospel. So you don't say anything. Am I right?
I know I am, because I've been there myself! Yet I've discovered something else, too. If I see a witnessing opportunity as an answer to prayer, and then I begin to speak believing in the power and promises of God, I actually get the boldness once I start to speak - but rarely before then!
I wonder how many times we have missed golden opportunities because upon recognizing them, we have not acted on them in faith, trusting God to overcome our fears by His Spirit. If you have been guilty of this (and I think we all have at times), why not make a fresh start right now to be a faithful witness for Jesus Christ. The Christmas season especially presents many opportunities to witness for our Lord.
"How do I do that?" you may be wondering. Well certainly you want to rely on the Holy Spirit, trusting Him to give you the words to say in any given moment. Keeping that principle in mind, there are some practical ways we can bring Christ into a conversation. Christian author Don Whitney shares ten questions that can help us move from small talk to "big" talk, the biggest subject of all - the Gospel. All of these questions are not original with Whitney but he has found them to be wonderful segways to sharing the Gospel:
- When you die, if God says to you, 'Why should I let you into Heaven?', what would you say? Are you interested in what the Bible says about your answer?
- If you were to die tonight, where do you think you would spend eternity? Why? Are you interested in what the Bible says about this?
- Do you ever thing much about spiritual things?
- How is God involved in your life?
- How important is your faith to you?
- What has been your most meaningful spiritual experience?
- Do you find that your religious heritage adequately answers your questions about life?
- Do you have any kind of spiritual beliefs? If what you believe were not true, would you want to know it? Well, the Bible says....
- To you, who is Jesus?
- I often like to pray for people I meet; how can I pray for you?
How about giving one or more of these questions a try? Remember: ask God for opportunities to share the Gospel and the boldness to share as you ought, then step forward in faith by bringing Christ into the conversation! Who knows? Maybe in days and weeks to come, you'll be able to add a few of your own additional questions to this list!
(For more useful articles on evangelism and other matters related to the Christian life, visit Don Whitney's website at www.spiritualdisciplines.org.)