I heard a praise worthy report from my wife the other day. My 13 year old daughter used some material from Dare to Share to tell her friend about Christ. She is open about telling her friends about Jesus, she invites them to church and to youth group. It's so amazing to see how she can just share, it's so natural to her. I wish I could be more like her in that area. I am very proud of her.
I have tried to do a few things myself, like trying to take a little light into the darkness. I tried to share on a page on Facebook that posts pictures of people who have been arrested. It was not recieved well, there is a group that gets on the page to mock the arrested. They didn't like me praying or being encouraging. I found that others also encouraged me not to share on that page. They said it wasn't a good place to share. That makes me ask the question, is there places we shouldn't share?
I think about Jesus and the Apostles. Do you think people told them not to share in some places? Maybe told Jesus He shouldn't teach around the religious leaders, cause they were getting mad. Told Paul not to teach in Ephesus, they may get angry. Told him to be quiet before he gets arrested, beaten, put on trial, beheaded? I was never in danger of any of those things, I was just called vulgar things and then kicked off the page for a while.
I was thinking about all the other times I could share my faith, and I don't. At work, because it's work time. I don't share in social situations because that would be awkward. I don't tell strangers, because they would feel like I'm attacking them. These are all excuses, and not really that good.
Do I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit? Do I believe the Gospel has the power to save all those who would believe? Do I believe that the word of God will not return void? If I believe those things, then what the heck am I doing? I need to be preaching Jesus, that He died for sin and rose on the third day and conquered sin and the grave. There is no reason that I shouldn't share, whenever and where ever. In public, in private, at work, even on the Lock Up page.
Where is God calling you to share?
I am always encouraged and challenged by reading your blog brother. Sometimes I find myself (like earlier today) in the midst of a whole bunch of people who hate Christianity trying to preach Christ to them. I alway get the sense that were I physically present with them, and were they not constrained by the and such that they would do some pretty bad things to me. Some day soon we may likely lose the protection of the law as our safety net, and we will still need to preach Christ. We may lose a that we own and maybe more. I only pray that God will give us grace and boldness then. Let's remember to pray for them and one another. And also to remember that they can't take anything of any true value from us!
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