Witnessing

Are you spreading the Gospel or are you ashamed of it?  Sometimes it seems like we can become ‘closet’ Christians, hiding the greatest message that was ever spoken and keeping it a secret.  I think most of us are guilty of this at times and I think as time goes on it will be harder and harder to share the good news and someday it will probably be against the law.  My approach to this is to share what the Lord has done in my life and if people are receptive to what I say I can continue to share more and more.

Fear seems to be the greatest deterrent to sharing the gospel with someone else.  I guess our love for the Lord hasn’t been perfected yet even though we say we love Him with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.   In 1 John 4:18 it says, “There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”  If we really love the Lord and have assurance of our faith it will make it much easier to witness to others about our faith.

It always baffles me how many Muslims are ready to kill themselves for what they believe in, but many who call themselves Christians are afraid to stand and be counted amongst the faithful witnesses of Christ.  Many Christians neglect witnessing for the Lord, which in many cases will cost them nothing.  If it isn’t fear then maybe it is a lack of power in their lives.

I struggle with this being the case because every born-again believer has the Holy Spirit residing in them because when they are born-again Jesus comes into them, in the form of the Holy Spirit and their bodies become the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own.”  If the Holy Spirit is in you then you have all the power you need to be a witness for the Lord.

Every time I write about these things Peter comes to mind, how presumptuous he was and how he would speak seemingly without thinking and at times stick his foot in his mouth, so to speak.  When the time came to stand up for the Lord he denied him, not only once but three different times.  However, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, because before that the Holy Spirit had not been poured out yet, Peter was a different man full of the power of the Holy Spirit, he never denied the Lord again.  Peter preached and witnessed for the Lord until he was finally crucified like his Lord except he was crucified upside down feeling not worthy to die in the same manner that his Lord was.

If we are born-again we have no excuse not to witness when we have the opportunity.  As for me I believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is still for today and I believe that every believer should seek it for themselves. This is what it says in Acts 1:4-8 “On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’  So when they met together, they asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’  He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”  

If you have a struggle with witnessing, pray and ask the Lord to baptize you with His precious Holy Spirit and don’t give up until it happens and then you should have no problem witnessing.  May the Good Lord Bless you and yours and have a great day!!