If you think witnessing is just not me...

Most people shy away from witnessing because of their fear of rejection or negative responses from others. In doing so they miss an important point: witnessing is not just another form of service to God. It is an integral part of why you are in Him.

Every believer ultimately does share his or her faith, negatively or positively. God intends that our lives, transformed by the Gospel, make a positive, loving, persuasive impression on the people around us, winning them to faith in Jesus Christ. Your faith is a gift from God meant to be shared with others.

How to witness:

• Grow deeper in oneness with Him. You must continue daily to grow deeper in your relationship with the Lord and in your understanding of His perspective. As you sit at His feet, being vulnerable to His activities in your life, the tasks He wants you to perform will gradually permeate your life so that witnessing happens without your having to force it.

• Remember that Jesus is the way. Maintain total conviction that Jesus is the only way to God. If you are not fully convinced that without the atoning blood of Jesus, people are headed for eternal separation from God, you will never have the zeal you need to share the Gospel.

• Example: If you saw a child dart out into the street as a car barreled toward him/her, what would you do? Probably you would risk your life to yank him/her out of harm's way. Men, women, and children are being crushed daily under the lies, deceptions, and murderous activities of Satan. They are dying without the Lord, and we must dare to rescue them - risking rejection, ridicule, even offense. After all, it is even more offensive to withhold knowledge that could save a dying individual from eternal misery.

• Maintain an interest in others. Decide to love and care for people sincerely regardless of whether they accept the message of Jesus. All people are creatures of God, and whether they ever love Him in return, He loves them so much He died for them. You must do the same. When Jesus is on your mind, you will feel His burden for individuals who are hurting.

• Keep fighting in the Spirit. Pray endlessly for the salvation of others. Fight for the souls of the lost whom Jesus places in your path. Pray prayers of prevailing triumph, seeing the possibility and reality of lives changed dramatically.

• Let the Holy Spirit lead. The Holy Spirit will give you the right timing, the right words to use, and the courage to say them if you let Him lead.

• Persist. Sometimes you must persist for a long time, offering love and speaking at the nudging of the Holy Spirit before you see any results. You may never see results in your lifetime, but that cannot stop you from persisting. Though she never saw his conversion in her lifetime, John Newton's mother was relentless in praying for her son's salvation. Before coming to Christ his business was the slave trade, but by God's grace he was saved and later went on to become a pastor and to compose the hymn Amazing Grace.

From How to Delight the Heart of God by Jan McCray. Used by permission of Baker Book House Company, Grand Rapids, Mich. Copyright (c) 1999 by Jan McCray. All rights to this material are reserved. Materials are not to be distributed to other web locations for retrieval, published in other media, or mirrored at other sites without written permission from Baker Book House Company.

Jan McCray is an ordained minister and Bible teacher and speaker for revivals and women's conferences. She is on the radio five times a week in the Tampa Bay area. Jan has an M.A. in Judaic studies and is working on a Ph.D. in Old Testament. She and her husband, David, have three grown children and six grandchildren and live in St. Petersburg, Fla.