WITNESSING TO THE UNSAVED

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Permalink Reply by Jesse James on January 9, 2009 at 12:19pm

Sounds like you may be trying to go beyond your capabilities in this situation. I would encourage you to focus on yourself in getting stronger for a while, but pray that God bring someone across their paths that they will listen to. Why continue beating yourself up for where you are at. There are situations in families where the last person they will listen to is one in the family. When they know you as they do, they see faults in you and not Christ. People want to see Christ before they start to believe, and they are not seeing Him in you at this point. Continue to pray, and grow into Godliness and you will get beyond your issues in this. When you do this you won't be embarrassed to talk about Jesus. When we see nothing but the negatives in ourselves we are not feeling any of God's strength in us to move forward. Therefore, you spend time with God in fixing you up, and God will do what is necessary to fix the family up.
Start seeing the positive inside yourself instead of all the negatives.
Keep in mind that when you are saved you are also under God's grace, and He wants you to be you and grow from where you are at. He can see your uncertainties and all but He wants you to draw close to Him. He wants you to move forward in a way where you will grow in strength and not just in the intellectual aspects of it all. Take the time and grow in Him, and He will take you to where He wants you to be. Read 1Timothy 4:7 and focus on that text and follow it's message, and miraculous things will happen when you disclipine yourself to pursue Godliness, and that will get you beyond beating yourself up, and you will find strength the closer you get to HIM.
God Bless,
He wants you where you are at.

Permalink Reply by Sunshine on February 2, 2009 at 12:45pm

All this given advise by James and so forth. Is so true. The hardest people to witness to is your family. Let Go and Let God direct you in family.For family will look for every fault you speak and walk. Sorry but people gave me tracks right away. It scared me further away from them. When I read about hell.I am sorry but tracks can be harmful. I had nightmares of hell.For a whole year. So I just avoided those people.When I seen those hands with them. tracks. I was gone. My door. Bang! So what Jesse James said, and Wally. I agree. Poemia Dei. my brother can you give us a short name towrite here. My fingers get tired before I get to the next post. I am going to call you Poem. When you start to read Gods word and believe in him Tina. He will do wonders through you. You will show all the liekness of him, gentle, meek. loving. You will walk that walk. Believe me honey.

God bless Tina
Dont worry. God knows what to do with you. To this day. I have never had to use Testimony tracks. People see Christ in me in my actions and my blogs. They tell me. Baptist people . I was one.Gospel church. Where my brother preached. Oh,my. Sort of gave brownie points to get us out there with them tracks. . I dont need brownie points for God.I got them all ready. Loving him with all my heart. He saved me and was not with a track. His word came forth as I was reading my bible alone in this chapter to those verses. StJohn. Chapter 11 Verse reading 25 and verse 30 hit me. I got saved in my own house at 21.On my knees.Askin Jesus to take my past sins away. he buried them in the deepest sea. A new mother of my first son.I was born again. Secon birth. Spiritually. Knowing I was a sinner. I had to come through Jesus to get to God the Father no other way. He says. I and the Father are one. I am now 67.I love him more every day then the weeek before.
Lord uses me but I never have to strive for me to be used. It happens. My stive days are over. He says. The things I do. You can do also. No quams. I believe. Worry is a sin siter. The common docotr will tell you that. Do not worry. get s the old heart beat pumping and you dont have to be old. . He leads my days. Not I. I am know more binded by church system. Telling me what to do and how to do it or what to say or knock on doors. The holy spirit leads me to all truths.

love ya Sister Tina
Sunshine

Permalink Reply by Jesse James on January 9, 2009 at 12:46pm

In addition to the one I just sent, keep in mind that God loves you where you are at, but he loves you too much to leave you there. Also, things don't happen over night. We have to allow God's direction and not go before Him. I have found that out on different situations in my life and it will always be done better when we trust and allow Him to do the driving. When we get anxious about things that is when we push faith away, but faith will erase anxiety out. This takes disclipine, and all disclipine is, is excercise. So practice your spiritual excercise and you will cross the line to victory. But you must disclipine yourself to move in God, and to learn His Word.

Permalink Reply by PoiemaDei on January 9, 2009 at 5:18pm

Jesse gave you some good practical advice on the matter, Tina. Witnessing of the change that grace brings about in our lives is one for demonstration rather than talk. The Holy Spirit will help you enter into it. It is always important to allow God to work in us and not to attempt of ourselves to serve God.

Also, find comfort in knowing that salvation is of God. And God works sometimes through myriad of ways to draw a soul to Him. Some people fall into vain boastings about souls they saved because they were able to preach or talk to certain people at the point when these people finally surrendered to the Lord. Actually, they might have just been a small part of the operating line that God used to minister salvation to that soul. If you and I would reflect there are innumerable people who contributed to our eventual surrender to the Lord for salvation - those who prayed; those who gave us literature; those who just demonstrated Christian kindness; those who invited us to a church meeting; sunday school teachers; and so on.

Paul said regarding that: "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:5-7).

My dear Tina, if praying and desiring your family's salvation is all you are capable of doing now by the Spirit, do it faithfully. Rest assured the Lord will work through others to do the rest, and we all and the angels will rejoice when one of them comes to repentance.

Permalink Reply by Wally on January 11, 2009 at 2:55pm

Jesse and PoemiaDei are right Tina. How you live your life will say a lot to your family. You provide a powerful Christian witness to them in the things you do and say and how you act or react when you are with your family. It may seem that they are not paying attention but trust in God and His work through you in their lives. Pray for them continually and let them see Christ in you every time you are in their presence. My mom spent years praying and living a Christian walk before my dad finally gave his life to Christ. She was diligent and never wavering in her trust that God was working through her and in my dad's heart. Be open to any comment or question they may ask that will give you an opportunity to share how He has blessed you and others. You can work a casual comment or two into normal conversation (i.e. "I was driving here this afternoon was amazed at the beauty of the trees that God Created" or "Did you happen to notice the beautiful sunset God gave us this evening"). I would even caution about overdoing it, often well meaning Christians turn others away from God by their condescending attitudes and constant "God talk." Be yourself and let God work his miracles through you in His time and His way. I will be praying for you.

Permalink Reply by Rev. [Mrs] O. Olusoga-Bayomi on January 11, 2009 at 7:35pm

Please pray for boldness for your witnessing life. You could start by giving tracts to friends and acquaintances. For your family, just try being yourself, and let them see the new changes in you.
Very soon they will start commenting about it, then you can start opening up to them by speaking of the love of Jesus Christ. The word of God says we are new creatures, behold old things have passed away.

Permalink Reply by lindsey finestone on January 29, 2009 at 6:24am

Dont give up so easily on yourself just think "what would Jesus do".My Mom never wanted to hear about the Lord and i always prayed for someone to cross her path and talk to her ,last year my Dad passed away and at the begining of this year she was in hospital and my pastor's wife (who is also a pastor) visited her ,after chatting for a while my Mom gave her life to the Lord .I praise and thank him for prayers answered,and you must just keep on praying in faith and it will happen.I will keep you in myprayers love and God bless Lindsey

Permalink Reply by Judy on January 31, 2009 at 9:37am

I used to feel that way when speaking to close relatives. After all, they are the very ones who knew me from birth! It doesn't happen overnight, but keep speaking the Word, though not forcefully. We can only plant seeds and let God do the harvesting. Pray for those people's hearts to open up to the Word of God. We are not perfect, not a one of us. We can only strive to be more like Jesus in our daily walk.