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Journal Entry: Learning to Share the Gospel.
by Teresa Altman "but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." Acts 1:8 (NAS) I received an answer to a prayer today with such a wonderful blessing. Groups from my church got together this morning to visit needful areas around the college and community, hand out church invitation flyers and bottles of water (representing the living water of Jesus), and share the gospel. I am 51 years old and this was the first time in my life that I had done this because I have always been afraid...afraid of rejection or not knowing what to say. I greatly admire and have even envied anyone that knows what to say when 'cold' witnessing to people. My only witness has always been confined to websites, publishing poems and articles, or waiting for someone to ask. I mistakenly thought I had to learn a method, style or specific script in order to properly share the gospel to strangers. I've never been very good at memorizing anything so I didn't think I could do it. But today, I knew I had to. I have such a strong desire to share what Jesus has done but I knew it would take a step in faith...for me. So I took it, and you know what? I discovered today that it's really not that hard when you allow the Lord to guide you. The hardest part is making the commitment. At first, it was somewhat uncomfortable because I didn't really know what to expect. But once we began, the Holy Spirit just took over. He filled me with courage and gave me words to say when he wanted me to speak and none when I was to keep silent. I also learned something I never realized. Scattered among the lost and lonely we encountered the occasional spirit filled Christian. The wonderful fellowship with them gave me great encouragement to press on. Praise God!!! Our church leadership has decided that we will make this a monthly event. I cannot wait until we do it again. I made REAL friends with the people in my group and, just by listening and watching, I learned soooo much from the gentleman assigned to my group. He and his wife inspired me with their energy and faith. I have so much to learn about sharing the gospel with others, but now, after my experience today, I feel like a door has opened and I am on the road to making true friendships and learning more about God's power and His will for my life. The bondage fear had on me has finally been broken, at least where witnessing is concerned. How do I know it's broken? Because when the mailman came to my door this afternoon I asked him if he had a church home. I don't even know his name and have only seen him a couple times when he's delivered packages. Can you believe it? I just did it without even thinking. He replied that he had not been to church in 13 years because divorce had left him bitter. I ran and got him a church flyer, invited him to service on Sunday and asked him to give God another chance. WOW!!! I DID IT!!! Thank you, Abba Father!!! Teresa Altman, http://www.faithwriters.com/websites/my_website.php?id=28787 , an engineer for 25 years, answered God's call to write in 2007. A mother of two and grandmother of six, she lives in Northwest Tennessee. @2007 by Teresa Altman Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |