witnessing door-to-door yesterday

I'll preface this entry by saying that last week I had been crying out to God for 1) Him to make me a bold and faithful witness, and 2) that He would show me something to do for His kingdom. During that time praying was really hard and the Bible was difficult to get into and hard to understand. I felt far from God, but at the same time so aware of how short I've fallen from being Christlike.  Finally after I struggled with trying to work up courage to witness, I decided it was useless. "Father, only You could give me courage," I prayed. "It all rests in Your hands now. Please be my teacher. Help me to be bold and faithful for Your glory." That relieved me so much, and even though I didn't necessarily feel any closer to Him, I just decided to wait and see what He would do.

So, Friday night our family received an e-mail from Byron, a friend that goes to our church (check out his HSB blog by clicking here). He asked if we would be around and would like to go door-to-door witnessing in our neighborhood. ;) It was one of those times when I could see God smile at me (through a circumstance) that let me know He had heard my cries for "something to do for the kingdom".

Witnessing went very well. Before we set out, we watched a Way of the Master video together about the fear of God, and how we should be urgent about witnessing because we never know when someone will enter eternity and find themselves standing before Almighty God. Considering our neighbors' fate if they died without repentance and faith in Christ was such a strong motivation for me to witness and I bore it in mind as we set out. I still didn't feel super close to God, and when I thought of that as we were knocking on one of the first doors I almost panicked. You're supposed to feel really close to God when you witness, like you're spiritually caught up w/ Him, prayed up and filled with a strong sense that He is with you....right?? That's what I'd always thought anyway. Yesterday though God showed me something different. He showed me that witnessing is a command, and we should be simply obedient to that command no matter how we're feeling. I didn't "feel it in my heart" - but I just trusted that my Father was pleased with this exploit and that He would honor it.

We had the awesome privilege of talking with people at about 10 houses or so about their eternal salvation. In between the houses, I realized that for the first time I was having fun witnessing. A quote that my 9-year-old brother said yesterday summed up all of my feelings perfectly - "This is so much fun! It makes me just want to witness all the time and not do anything else!" It wasn't satisfying to the flesh type of fun (like going to an amusement park) but it was...so thrilling to be on mission with God, doing what He commanded us to do, lovingly and urgently warning people about judgment and hell, telling them about God's law that we've broken so horribly, about our utter inability to keep it, and then...oh - about the grace and love of God displayed on the cross when He sacrificed His son to satisfy His wrath and pay our debt so that we could forever be with Him! When I mentioned how thrilling this was, Byron grinned and said, "It's what we were made for." I believe it. God has put a desire for adventure and a love of risk-taking in every human heart and He means us to use it for His glory to accomplish His purpose.

The one encounter that seemed most fruitful (to me) was with a lady whose name was Julie. Please pray for her - she wanted to know why we chose Christianity and how it stacked up against other world religions. She called herself "open-minded" towards other beliefs, and she really was, but not in the way that she meant. She has such a hunger to know the truth. We talked with her about God's wrath and judgment, what it means to repent, what it means to have faith, the reliability of the Bible, and how Jesus is the only Way. I gave her a gospel of John so that she could examine Jesus' claims, and Byron "happened" to have a booklet called "Why Christianity?" on hand, and he gave that to her too. As we were leaving, I told her where our family lived and she said she would stop by. I want to stop by her house again too, soon, in case she has any more questions about what we talked about and what she's read in the books we gave her.

Last night after we'd come back from witnessing I was listening to a song, and I heard one line that really struck me "I love you for Your sufficiency." His grace had been sufficient for me. He took my fear of man and gave me fear of God instead. I was feeling far from Him (and actually in no condition to witness) but His strength was made perfect in my weakness. I just praised Him for overshadowing my timid, fearful flesh and for being all-sufficient. Lord, I love You for Your sufficiency!

So after those experiences yesterday, I want to urge and encourage you, brothers and sisters, to not listen to the lie of the devil - that you must wait until you're spiritually pulled together to be a witness for our Lord. Admit your weakness, trust His strength, glory in His sufficiency, and go for it!

"The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion." - Prov. 28:1

God is Amazing!

09:26, Tuesday, July 24, 2007 .. Posted by solodeogloria

Isn't God just awesomely amazing?

I enjoyed reading about your witnessing in your neighborhood sooo much! I love that you are talking to people right here and right now.

We just heard fromTucker who is in Miami on an outreach trip this mornig. He said they spent last night on a prayer walk in South Beach and, being "...bold as lions..." talked to people there and handed out tracks...stopping, at one point, to sing praises...with 7 acoustic guitars and a guy playing a 5 gallon bucket! Just as you said about your experience... it was thrilling. As Bryon said - "It's what we were made for!"

Keep on planting those seeds! God is moving mightly!

Love and Blessings,
Mrs. F

P.S.- Editing to say... I love the new name for your blog. I know that God has Soriendo in his heart for you! Thank you, too, for sharing Byron's blog with us. I especially enjoyed reading his John Piper post.

Edited by solodeogloria on Tuesday, July 24, 2007 at 08:51