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"That the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus."
(Philemon 6)
I love this prayer by the Apostle Paul on behalf of his friend Philemon. Within this prayer, he shares with us the readers today an effective way to share Jesus with those who do not know Him. Paul prays that Philemon's personal evangelism and witnessing become effective. This is a prayer I believe all followers of Jesus have for themselves and for one another. We pray that all the church of God would effectively share our faith in Jesus with others.
I love the simple phrase "sharing of your faith". Our relationship with God through Jesus is the greatest thing we have in this life and in the life to come. Our sins are forgiven, and we are on our way to eternity with Jesus! We all have a story of how we came to faith in Christ, how He drew us by His Holy Spirit, and we responded in faith and repentance. A person with a genuine story of salvation is never at the mercy of someone with a mere argument. Our faith and how we came to know Jesus are our prized treasures, and we have no choice but to share our story with those who do not know God.
Notice, however, an interesting aspect of effective personal evangelism: Paul prayed that we become effective in witnessing by acknowledging every good thing we have in Christ Jesus. There are many ways to start a witnessing encounter with another person, but I believe Paul gives an excellent one here in this verse. It is simple, yet we often forget to do it. A great way to start the Gospel conversation is to say something like this: "Hi, I just want to encourage you today by sharing with you that God has been so good to me, and He desires to bless and be good to you as well. All you have to do is turn to Him in faith and then watch what God will do in you and through you."
Another way you can share your faith with another person is by simply asking if you can pray for God to bless him or her. I do this often when eating out in restaurants. I say something like this to our waiter or waitress: "Thank you so much for serving us; we are about to say a blessing for our food. Is there anything for which we can pray for you?" I have done this numerous times, and only one time has anyone actually said, "No." For example, my family and I were eating dinner at one of our favorite places in Austin, Hula Hut. I asked this question to our waitress, and she responded with a request and ended up hanging out with us, and we had a nice conversation with her. We were so blessed and happy to be together as a family, and we just let our love for each other overflow to her.
Let me encourage you to share Jesus with someone today by acknowledging how good God has been to you. Tell your story of how God saved you and how He continues to bless you. Tell the one to whom you are witnessing that just as God has blessed you through Christ, He desires to bless them as well. Let them know God loves them, and if they will only believe in Him and turn from their sins, then Jesus will forgive them and give them an abundant and eternal life. You can do this! I am praying for you and me even now that God would provide this opportunity for us, even today.
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