Adventures are supposed to be fun, right?
Well, not every adventure of sharing the faith is fun. In fact, especially as we first begin it can be just about the scariest thing we’ve ever done. The fear can almost approach the irrational.
Yet God still calls us to do it. All of us, even if we’re unreasonably afraid. Lee Stroebel shares the experience of his first big evangelism effort. It was completely unexpected and he was completely unprepared in every way. He was in India to write about a ministry campaign and one day he was in a small village waiting for a traveling pastor to come and speak to a group of villagers. The musicians started playing music and soon a small crowd gathered. But the pastor didn’t come. . . . Still didn’t come. Finally a musician told Lee that he had to get up and talk. He’d never done anything like this and hadn’t a clue of what to say. He hadn’t even spoken in public since high school. But there was no choice. So he did get up. And he spoke about. . . well, he can’t exactly remember. At the end, he prayed to Jesus asking forgiveness for his poor performance and promising he’d never even try this again, clearly it wasn’t his thing.
But then something even more unexpected happened. Half the people there got up and wanted to speak to him about faith in Jesus Christ.
There are many things God wants us to do that we feel completely unprepared for. And maybe we are, but God still calls us to do them sometimes. He may even force us into situations of sharing the faith. So what’s the action principle. Well, if he’s pushing you, if he’s making you uncomfortable, if he’s putting you into a situation where you know things are screaming at you to share, at some point you need to just do it, whether you feel ready or not. After all, it is God who strengthens us. Lee points to the story of Gideon (Judges 6-8) to show how it is God who equips, not ourselves.
Listen to God’s words to us in Philippians- “I can do everything thorugh him who gives me strength”. Everything, even sharing the faith.
