Thursday, June 20, 2013

"Natural Evangelism"

  I call it natural evangelism. That's really what we need to be doing. There is nothing wrong with outreaches and planning for outreaches. I have been involved over the many years in many different  types of evangelistic efforts. From door knocking, to making calls, to nightly meetings and just about everything in between. But there is nothing like natural evangelism.
  As I look back over the many years of efforts and ideas the most effective way to reach others is just looking for opportunities every day. What may surprise many is the opportunities are there but many never realize it. Why? Because we aren't looking! Paul told the Colossian brethren they needed to respond in two ways: (1) Pray for him (Paul) for the Lord to open doors to speak about the Lord Jesus Christ to others. (2) Be wise in your own conduct toward those outside making the most of opportunities. (Col. 4:3-5) But there is one more element Paul brings in about dealing with reaching others. "Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving." (Col. 4:2) To reach out to others, we need to be praying and keeping alert! When you pray asking God for anything, are you looking? Are you alert? If not, how will you ever see and make the most of an opportunity that comes your way?
  We run into people daily and we need to be looking for doors open. That means our conduct should matter when we encounter others. Our attitudes, our speech and what we are involved in. We need alertness knowing that an opportunity to say something that would cause our friend, neighbor or even in our own household be stirred to want to know more of our Lord and Savior. This cannot be planned. It cannot be orchestrated. This is simply being devoted to prayer, using wisdom in our encounters with others making the most of the opportunity the Lord provides us with. Maybe that's why we seem to make so little progress. We might need to consider this natural evangelism approach.

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