Successful Witnessing
“Successful witnessing is simply taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results to God.”
Some time ago, while talking with a friend, I asked about a step-sister who had suffered a life threatening illness as a result of poor choices. While she was recovering in the hospital, I mailed her a Bible and some booklets to read. I spoke with her on the phone and shared with her some truths of the gospel. I realized she needed someone who could meet with her on a regular basis to answer her questions and to equip her to know Christ intimately. Although she lives in a small outlying community several miles from a town of any size my friend informed me the stepsister was being visited by two women who were giving her book studies. Instantly, I felt the heat rise in my face as the book studies were information about a religion I knew was a cult. Righteous indignation began to creep all over me as I realized I did not know anyone I could call to visit this step-sister living in the middle of no-where. Could I have called you? Who would be willing to equip her with the gospel of Jesus Christ, a hurting woman, an outcast, knowing they would have to travel many miles out of their way to serve? Who could I call to be a witness to her?
As I have pondered on this, I came to the realization there are three characteristics that must take place in the Christian’s life to be an effective witnesses for Christ. The three characteristics that must take place are; a heart change, a life controlled and empowered by the Holy Spirit and a desire to love and serve others.
First, we must have a heart change. A pastor friend has often joked that his life has taken on a feminine side now that he has had a heart transplant. His new heart is from a woman! Men often attribute emotions to women and it is true that a heart change does involve some level of emotion however, we must keep in mind our walk with the Lord is not just an emotional walk. Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, explains what happens when a person has a heart change. He says three things take place: there is an emotional decision, an intellectual understanding and an act of the will.
Just like in the courtship stage prior to marriage, we emotionally fall in love. We want to spend time with our fiancé to get to know them. We want to talk with them and to be with them. Remember the warm feeling you had just hearing their voice on the phone or seeing them drive up to your home? I remember spending endless hours sitting in the car talking with my husband before we were married not wanting our time together to be over. We must also emotionally fall in love with Jesus. It is a heart change.
John 1:12 & 13 says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Important to this change of heart is to know Christ is who He says He is. More Than a Carpenter author Josh McDowell uses the argument that Christ is either a liar, a lunatic or he is who he says he is our Savior and Lord. A person must ask themselves, “Is there any rational basis for following Christ?” Look at the claims Jesus made about Himself and see whether or not there is any evidence to support the claims. When we know what is true and can state facts about the truth, we will be much more vocal in its defense. It is an intellectual knowing. However, just knowing Jesus is who He says He is, is not enough. While having an emotional experience and coming to an intellectual realization that Jesus is who He says He is, there is more. We must make a choice.
As an act of our will we choose to be a follower of Christ. In the same way, we choose our spouse by saying, ‘I do’. When I stood at the altar to marry my husband, I had a choice to make. So too a decision must be made about Christ. If we choose to follow Him, then He will need to have access to every area of our life.. God is looking for F.A.C.T. people. People who, are faithful, available, committed and teachable. Emotionally we fall in love with Jesus, we know intellectually that He is who He says He is and we have made a decision to trust our life to Him. Now we have a heart change.
The second characteristic of an effective witness is to understand what it means to be controlled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not get drunk on wine for this is a waste but rather be (being) filled with the Holy Spirit.” Ephesians 5:8 says, “For you were formerly darkness but now you are light in the Lord, walk as children of light.”
Until 1990 I did not understand what these verses meant. I knew in my heart that if I died I would go to heaven because of Christ’s payment on the cross for me, but my life was “walking” in frustration and disharmony with God. My life was like a car going down a one way street in the wrong direction. I was the driver of that car and although I knew I was going the wrong way, I could not get turned around. I lived a defeated Christian life. I was not sharing my faith, I was a poor witness, I was making bad choices and I had no desire to read the Bible. Much to my sadness today, during this difficult time I taught a children’s Sunday school class, worshipped in church regularly along side of other believers and participated in church classes and functions. I looked good on the outside but was miserable on the inside. Then I discovered how to get turned around. Christ is now in His rightful place in my life, controlling and empowering me.
However, “Walking as children of light” means our daily life is a moment by moment, minute by minute, hour by hour experience with God allowing the Holy Spirit to speak truth to us, speaking to us of sin. Ouch! This is big in our walk with God. It is imperative we understand what sin is. Sin is doing anything both in attitude and action that is against God. Today I seem to be convicted in the area of attitude the most. Have you heard the term, “they have a bad attitude or they think they are better than others?” These are a sin of attitude. In order to walk in fellowship (harmony) with God it is important to confess sin as quickly as the Holy Spirit speaks it to you. It is often in this conviction-confession process that the enemy will hinder us. Guilt is a battle ground by satan. If we are laden with unconfessed sin and guilt, we will be ill-equipped to share our faith. It is satan’s role to render Christians ineffective in the area of witnessing and if we are not sharing our faith then we are fruitless for Christ. Another victory for satan. At the start of each day be sure God is on the throne of your life.
Confession is agreeing with God about your sin. It is an expression of faith and an act of obedience, which results in God making real in your experience what he has already done for you through the death of His son. This real and ongoing experience of God’s forgiveness helps you remain an open channel through which God’s love and power can flow. Unconfessed sin short-circuits the flow of God’s power in your life. (How You Can Know God’s Love and Forgiveness by Dr. Bill Bright.)
After a heart change (Christ in on the throne of our life) and the Holy Spirit is controlling and empowering us (we have confessed all known sin and received God’s love and forgiveness) the third characteristic for being an effective witness for Christ is a willing heart to love and serve others. In the second greatest command, Christ tells us to love others as ourselves. One of the ways we do that is by caring about the spiritual life of others. Out of our love for God, we want people to know Him too.
After training a group of women in how to share their faith by using the Four Spiritual Laws booklet titled Journey of Joy, I left the first class of what would be a 12 week Foundations class with a heavy heart. Several of the ladies were new in their faith and I had given them quite a challenge to share the booklet with one person before we met again the following week. Discouragement began to drop little beads of doubt into my mind. I felt I had asked too much of these ladies and it was too soon into our times of meeting together. Fear that they might not return the following week due to the assignment I had given them caused me to question the use of the booklet. As I sat sulking in the corner of a lonely and quiet restaurant for lunch, I noticed two couples place their order at the counter and saunter over to sit at the table next to mine. I found it odd that in the entire establishment of table choices they chose to sit next to me. As they shared together I overhead one of the men ask the other couple, “Have I told you how I came to know Christ as my Savior by someone sharing the Four Spiritual Laws with me?” I could not believe what I had just heard. I leaned over to hear more of this mans story, almost falling off my chair, however I did try not to look too obvious but I was so overtaken with amazement that I had to lean in. I did not want to miss a word this man was saying. He went on to share his story with his lunch companions. My heart leapt with joy. As the couples were leaving I boldly stopped the man who gave his story and learned he was sharing with his pastor. I explained what had happened that morning in my class and my discouragement. I know God allowed these two couples to sit at the table next to me at the very time I would be in that same restaurant to encourage me, and did it ever. I was even more convinced using this little booklet was a way to share my faith effectively. Using a booklet like the Journey of Joy or Would You Like to Know God Personally gives an edge to sharing your faith. At first I am told that the booklet feels uncomfortable and canned. I felt that way too. I can remember the first time I was asked to go door to door sharing the booklet in a training class. Horror, sheer horror, took over my mind, my body and my emotions. When I was told it was my turn to share the booklet I did not think I would be able to breathe. I prayed as I knocked on the door that no one would answer however a woman came to the door and somehow by the grace of God I was able to share with her. As you share the booklet more and more, a level of confidence begins to take over. To be successful in sharing our faith it is important we care more about the person and what is going on in their spiritual life than the emotional trauma we might experience.
Successful witnessing then, is simply taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results to God. I do not know if the woman at the door came to know Christ as her Savior as a result of me sharing the booklet with her, like the man in the restaurant did, but I do know we who were in the training that day were successful witnesses. We simply took the initiative, we were controlled and empowered by the Holy Spirit and we left the results to God.
Always keeping our “spiritual antennae” up, looking for ways to transition a conversation from the things that are going on in the world or around the persons life to the spiritual will result in being successful witnesses. Be confident. This is a divine appointment. It is indeed God’s will for you to share your faith, however, be sensitive as you share. If the listener seems interested in what you are saying but does not have the time to listen right then, ask them to lunch or coffee with you. Let them know you would like to share your story (testimony) with them. The Purpose Driven Life book by Rick Warren confirms how important it is to write out your story using three parts; what life was like before you knew Christ, how you came to know Christ and what your life is like now. No one can dispute your testimony. It is your story. The Bible tells us in Revelation 12:11, “And they overcame him (satan)…..because of the word of their testimony…..”
Please do not be preachy or talk negatively about any church or doctrine. The person you may have been able to share Christ with might have been raised in the very church you are talking badly about. Keep Christ pre-eminent in your conversation. Often times the ones you are sharing with will want to go on about something of insignificance to the message of salvation. Keep coming back to Christ and what He has done for you. The other evening I had the awesome opportunity to share with a former neighbor whose wife was dying of cancer. I went to visit them because God had laid them on my heart. I wanted to take the peace of Christ to them because I was not sure of where they were in their spiritual journey. As I visited with him, she was asleep, he shared with me how they had left the church in the 1960’s and had not been back because of a misunderstanding. They had thrown out the baby (Jesus) with the bathwater (church). After visiting for an hour and a half and developing a relationship with him, I was able to effectively begin to share my story and God’s love for us. I gave him the Would You Like to Know God Personally booklet to read later and asked him if he would read it to his wife. As I was leaving her bell rang indicating she was awake. He asked me to wait and went in to see his wife. A minute or so later he walked out and said she would like to see me. I did get to pray with his wife that night. The next day I received a phone call from this husband saying his wife had died early in the morning and that he had read the booklet to her after I left. In my time of sharing with this man it was important that we did not get off on subjects of little value that took away from the message of Christ. Time was short in this couples life and for that matter in all of our lives.
Another way of loving others is to help equip them for their journey, their daily walk with Jesus. Perhaps this would involve meeting with them in your home or theirs or for coffee or lunch at a local restaurant to take them through a basic Bible study. These studies can be purchased at the local Christian bookstore or maybe your church has already prepared a study you could use. Take several weeks to look up scripture and pray together. Commit to each other the time and day you will meet and the expectation of your time together. Then be faithful to fulfill your commitment.
A person who is “walking” with God in fellowship and harmony due to a changed heart is controlled and empowered by the Holy Spirit and is successfully sharing their faith with others. This person is a successful witness and is leaving the results to God. This is the person I could have called knowing they would go out of their way, perhaps way out of their way, to meet with this stepsister to help equip her with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
How about it, could I call you to help equip others for Jesus Christ?
by Cathy Cheshier
founder, Discipleship Ministry International, Inc.
a discipleship ministry equipping the church for Christ
