Have you ever noticed how when Jesus ministered it always seemed entirely effortless on his part? When he preached to multitudes he sat in a boat by the shore, sat on hilltops, and in the most relaxed mood hammered out heavenly truths without skipping a beat. Even when confronted by the Pharisees with the toughest theological questions of the day Jesus answered without so much as a bead of sweat rolling off his nose.
With Jesus as our prototype, our model, we have every right in our Christian walk to live the way he did. The Bible says we are to be like Him(1 John 2:6, 1 Cor. 11:1), therefore nothing He did could be impossible for us, otherwise the command would be ridiculous.
Most Christians don't win souls because of fear; fear of rejection, fear of man, fear of failure, etc.... However if we walk with Jesus like Jesus walked with the Father, and are led by the Holy Spirit like he was, evangelism becomes an entirely different challenge, a much smaller challenge.
One of my favorite things in the world to do as I have said before, is to go out on the streets and talk to people. It is so much fun. Sometimes I don't even have the intention of witnessing to anyone but God changes my plans.
Yesterday I went to the grocery store to restock as we all need to do every now and then. I needed to get some money out of the ATM first to pay our rent, but the machine in the grocery store was out of service. Right then I knew God had something up His sleeve. Why? Because I am a firm believer in Proverbs 20:24, "Man's steps are ordained by the LORD, How then can man understand his way?" If I am walking with the Holy Spirit the way I am supposed to, there isn't one step I can take that he hasn't designed. So when I go to the ATM and find it out of money, that means there is some reason why God wants me to go to the other machine. That may seem extreme, but in my experience extreme beliefs produce extreme results.
I left the store and made my way toward the bank which was only about half a block away. As I was walking, I asked God, "Alright, what's up? Who do you want me to talk to?"
I went to the machine, got the money out, and started walking back when I noticed a Ngobe man standing outside of the new casino in town. The Holy Spirit indicated that this was the guy. So I went right up to him and said "Hello," introduced myself, and immediately told him how God sent me out there to tell him there is a God who loves him, and his name is Jesus.
After that I did what the Bible says, which is to be a witness to the things God has done and to his resurrection life. I told him about some of the miracles I've seen God do recently.
In less than five minutes the man told me he had heard about Christianity, but nobody ever told him what it was about. He also said he knew he was going to hell, and didn't want to, because the place where God lived must be much nicer.
I told him how wonderful heaven is, and that God so much wants for him to be there, and that I did too! He then said what we all want to hear:
"What must I do?"
That's when you know you've won them. So I prayed the sinners prayer with him, explained a bit of the Gospel, and told him to ask God what church he should go to.
That was it! I went to the store, stocked up, and went home, but a man's eternal destiny was changed through a simple five minute conversation.
So here is the question on people's minds. How do you find people who are so open, and so quickly receive the Lord without some lengthy debate? How can you walk up to a total stranger like that? How can it possibly be so effortless?
I believe the answer goes right back to Jesus. Look at these verses:
Mark 1:35, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."
Luke 5:16, "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."
All of Jesus success in ministry, as well as the success of every other man and woman of God who ever did anything for the Kingdom, was based on a solid foundation of constant prayer.
1Th 5:17, "Pray without ceasing."
Jesus was able to produce such seemingly effortless fruit because of the secret place of prayer. We don't get many glimpses of his prayer life, just a few precious ones, but those we do see show great passion and strain that is rarely found in the modern Christian today. Yet it is out of that prayer of passion for the lost, and love of the presence of God that brought forth great fruit.
We know that numbers do not determine success in the Kingdom of God, if they did most of the prophets, and Jesus himself would have been relative failures. Success is measured by how much of God's purpose in your life you have walked in, and that only comes about by fervent prayer (James 5:16).
Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest evangelists in history, when asked about his success constantly affirmed that it was through prayer. This was the theme of his life. Often times when visited he would take the visitors into the basement of their church where there would be faithful members on their knees praying, and he would declare, "This is the true powerhouse of the Church."
His confidence was not in his abilities, or education, but in the power of prayer:
"Shall I give you yet another reason why you should pray? I have preached my very heart out. I could not say any more than I have said. Will not your prayers accomplish that which my preaching fails to do? Is it not likely that the Church has been putting forth its preaching hand but not its praying hand? Oh dear friends! Let us agonize in prayer."
"If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for."
"A prayerless church member is a hindrance. He is in the body like a rotting bone or a decayed tooth. Before long, since he does not contribute to the benefit of his brethren, he will become a danger and a sorrow to them. Neglect of private prayer is the locust which devours the strength of the church."
"It is a good rule never to look into the face of a man in the morning till you have looked into the face of God."
- Charles Spurgeon
If we truly want to see revival, and have great success in our lives and ministries, we will take these quotes to heart and become men and women of prayer. When we have become that, God will gives us the great boldness to go out and speak to total strangers and bring them into the Kingdom without hesitation, and do what we have been called to do, which is to be his witnesses.
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